


Mornin' Sunshine

by NGC1039



Series: Dream SMP medieval/revolutionary AU [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: And Wilburs adopted son, Angst, Comfort, Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fundy is 13 in this, It's not Wilburs fault that he's a selfless idiot that just got betrayed, M/M, Nightmares, No Smut, Paranoia, Passing Out, Pre election days, Scolding, Sickfic, Some parents are assholes ok, Starving Yourself, The better days, They're just worried about Wilbur, Trigger warning for squeamish people i guess, Vomiting, first fic, he needs a hug, how do you even tag, its very cute, medieval au i guess???, mentions of past abandonment, mentions of past neglect, more tags to be added probably, my man can't bathe in his clothes give him a break, no one dies I promise, non sexual nudity, not sleeping, poor wilbur, wilbur tommy and techno are brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27464578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NGC1039/pseuds/NGC1039
Summary: Tommy and Tubbo bring a new recruit to the rebellion. Niki is more willing to keep the 4 boys alive than she is to fight, though her plan of keeping them all safe kind of goes out the window when General Soot suddenly passes out one day in the middle of L'Manberg and isn't waking up. Now Niki, the only one with a shred of medical experience, is tasked with taking care of Wilbur until he wakes up.idk man I'm bad at summaries.Basically Wilbur's sick cause he's a selfless idiot and Niki has to take care of him. Hijinks ensue.*EDIT*: I edited chapter 6 to hopefully be better. I hope you enjoy it! Have a nice day
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu & Wilbur Soot, Niki | Nihachu/Wilbur Soot, dreamnotfound mentioned
Series: Dream SMP medieval/revolutionary AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006650
Comments: 574
Kudos: 537





	1. First Meetings

Wilbur gently runs his fingers across the cords of his guitar to the newly written tune of L’Manbergs anthem, the camp fires crackling a soothing addition to the soft tune. A small pile of papers of the musical notes and lyrics of said anthem sit in front of him with a pencil slightly off to the side in the grass. Wilbur sits hunched over his guitar in front of his tent, the beginning structures of the first homes within L’Manbergian walls surrounding him while he played. He then began to softly sing the words scribbled onto the parchment, adjusting their placement so as to better read the lyrics in the warm glow of the fire. 

“I heard there was a special place. Where men could go, and emancipate. The tyranny, and the blood lust. Of their rulers.” He pauses to steal a glance at the craters that Tommy and Tubbo have been slowly filling before continuing, “Well this place is true you needn’t fret. With Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret.” The venom in his voice is clear at the end of the line, “A pretty big and not blown-up L’Manberg.” He continues to flick the cords while singing the chorus, finishing with one final strum of his guitar before falling silent.

Wilbur nearly jumps out of his skin from the sudden soft clapping coming from behind him. He instead decides to quickly stand and turn towards the sound, expecting to see Tommy or Tubbo about to make fun of him for being so jumpy, but instead he’s met with a pair of slightly startled pale blue eyes that belong to a much smaller woman. She flinches at his sudden movement, halting her clapping to pull her arms towards her chest, her pale blue dress shifting from her flinching. 

She sheepishly smiles at him, “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. You just sang so beautifully that I felt I had to congratulate you. My apologies General Soot, I did not mean for our first meeting to be like this.”

She bowed slightly to him, her pale blonde hair falling in front of her face and out of the messy bun she had it tied in on the back of her head. Wilbur stood confused before Tubbo came running up beside her with some supplies in his arms, Tommy not far behind him.

“Alright so we were able to find some stuff to make a tent for you, but we’re gonna need to find some bedding- Oh hi Wilbur. Have you met Niki?”

“Niki?” Wilbur repeated dumbly.

She gently picks up the sides of her dress skirt and lifts them, bowing her body in a curtsy, “Nikita Becker, but you can just call me Niki, General Soot,”

Wilbur pauses before setting his guitar against his tent, swiftly wiping his hand against his pants before walking forward and gently taking Niki’s left hand in his right, his left arm folding behind his back, and bending his body forward slightly to bring her knuckles up to his lips. He closes his eyes as he gently places a kiss upon her hand before pulling her hand away from his lips, but still keeping it in his gentle grasp. His eyes meet hers and he doesn’t miss the soft blush dusting her pale cheeks in a light shade of pink. Her eyes shift away from his, a small smile making its way onto her face.

“You may call me Wilbur if you’d like Miss Niki, but if I may ask, why are you here? War isn’t exactly the place for a young woman,”

Before Niki could respond Tommy cuts in, “The woman is here to serve us Wilbur,”

The boy is quickly jabbed in the gut by an offended looking Tubbo. Wilbur looks equally offended and is about to scold his younger brother before Niki’s sudden laughter halts his onslaught of words. The trio look at her in confusion as her soft giggles fill the chilled night air. 

“I mean-” Niki begins through her giggles, “-he’s not wrong,”

Tommy looks a little too smug for his own good, so Wilbur releases Nikis hand to quickly smack him on the back of his head. His younger brother holds his head and begins spewing curses at the taller man. Wilbur just pinches the bridge of his nose while Niki continues to laugh and as Tommy continues to run his mouth. Eventually the two calm down enough for Niki to explain the situation.

“I’m from a village a good ways from here off in that direction-” she points her hand towards the west wall, “I used to run a bakery there and Tommy and Tubbo visited rather often to buy some of my goods. They then asked if I wanted to come live in their new nation, L’Manberg. They’re offer was free housing for the foreseeable future in exchange for me to cook all of our food if they get the ingredients that I can’t grow, wash and repair clothes, treat wounds, and anything else that I could offer,”

Wilbur looks taken aback by the young woman's words, “Niki we cannot possibly ask all that of you. No offense but we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. You are welcome to stay here if you’d like, but we are still at war and- what are you doing?”

Niki had raised an eyebrow at the young General's words before stepping forward to examine his uniform, noting all the tears and splotches of dirt and god knows what turning his navy blue jacket to almost a black. She lifts his coat away from his chest a bit to get a good look at the white, or what used to be white, dress shirt underneath. She leans forward slightly, breathing in the tallers scent before grimacing and repressing a cough. Niki looks up at Wilbur, ignoring his flushed face, and reaching up to remove his hat from his head and running her hand softly through his dark locks. His hair felt greasier than it looked, causing Niki to pull her hand away and wipe it against the skirt of her dress. She places Wilbur’s hat back on his head and leans around him to look at the fire or more of what was cooking over it. She steps around the general and picks up the ladle hanging off the large pot cooking what looked to be stew over the campfire. She dips the ladle into the stew, making the decision to not smell it for the sake of her lungs, and brings it to her lips. This time she lets out the cough as the sickly tasting stew enters her mouth and she quickly pours the rest that was in the ladle back into the pot. The ladle is placed back on the side of the pot as she turns towards the trio behind her. 

The boys sheepishly look away from her knowing stare and Wilbur nearly dies of a heat stroke from how flushed his face is when Niki walks back over to him and places her hands on either side of his waist. She frowns, he’s rather thin for someone of his height and build. What worries her more is when she goes to the other two and does the same only to feel them have more weight to them. Niki shifts her gaze back to Wilbur who’s rubbing his neck sheepishly and looking at the ground. She had only known the man for a total of ten minutes and yet she was able to understand what he was doing to himself. 

She sighs and looks back at the other two, “Do you mind if I discuss my sleeping arrangements with the General in private?”

Tommy snorts and gets another jab in the stomach by the smaller boy who smiles brightly at her and hands her the supplies, “Of course! Call us if you two need help with anything!”

After the two had walked a considerable distance away Niki turns back towards Wilbur, who had wished he hadn’t looked up from the very interesting grass, as she stares at him with a newfound frustration. She sighs, ultimately deciding to not scold the man, but one of the first things she was working on when the sun rises is their food situation, and to make sure that everyone is getting enough. 

She walks back towards Wilbur and straightens out his coat, looking up at his face, now noticing the rather large bags lying beneath his dark eyes, “So this is how everything's going to go-” She begins with a gentle tone, “-I am staying. I will grow and cook the food. I will clean and sew the clothes and anything else I can help with as long as you promise me one thing,”

Wilbur nods, silently telling her to continue, “You treat yourself with the same care that you give them. Alright?”

He nods again, smiling softly at her. Niki returns the smile with a little more energy, “Good now where shall I place my tent?”


	2. Settling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda choppy and rushed in my opinion. Sorry hope you enjoy though!

After a bit of discussion, Niki ended up placing her tent beside Wilburs, though he had been very adamant about her not being at the end of their little circle around the campfire. She grabbed some of her old bedding and pillow from the cart of belongings she brought from home, and laid them out on the ground under the tent. She made a mental note to thoroughly wash them later after the houses were all fully built. Niki settles herself onto the soft sheets and hard ground, lying on her back staring up at the starry sky. None of the tents that any of the boys provided were big enough to cover her entire body, as was the same for the rest of them. The tents were only big enough to cover from their feet to their shoulders, so they’re heads were unprotected from the nightly summer air. 

Niki didn’t mind since the sun will be able to get her up bright and early to begin her new tasks of keeping these soldiers and their idiotic general alive. As Niki fully settles on her side, generously facing away from Wilbur as he strips himself of his uniform to sleep, she notices a fifth tent. 

She makes a noise of confusion which doesn’t go unnoticed by the taller man, “Is something wrong Niki?”

“Hm? Oh no, nothing’s wrong. It’s just-” she pauses, unsure if she should ask, “Who is the last tent for?”

She hears Wilbur shuffle around behind her, a stiff silence filling the air. Niki remains silently tense in her spot, afraid that she may have touched a sore subject about a fallen soldier before Wilbur speaks up again. 

“Oh that’s my son Fundy’s tent,”

Nikis eyes widen and she turns around in her bedding so quickly that it wraps around her waist and legs uncomfortably. She meets Wilburs startled gaze and if she wasn’t about to bombard the man with questions she’d have scolded him on how scarily thin he looked without all his layers hiding his bony chest and hips. 

“You have a son?! I didn’t even know you were married! How old is he? Where is he now-” Niki’s extreme line of questioning was cut off by Wilbur placing his hand over her mouth.

He lets out an airy laugh as Niki gives him an incredulous look, shocked that he had stopped her rambling in such a manner. Wilbur pulls his hand away, finally certain that she’d remain quiet for him to explain.

He leans back onto his bedding, “Fundy isn’t my biological son. I took him in around four years ago when I found him on these very lands we lay upon. He is thirteen as of a week ago and he’s currently doing the nightly patrols before bed,” he lets out another small chuckle before continuing, “And I am certainly not married,”

Niki raises an eyebrow at the general, “Why do you say it like that?”

“Say it like what?”

“Like there’s no way a woman could love you. As if there was something that drove them away,” she pauses before smirking, “It’s Tommy isn’t it?”

Wilbur lets out a full shoulder bouncing laugh at that. His right hand clutching his bare chest as he attempts to learn how to breathe properly again. Niki joins in his boisterous laughter and ends up falling back against the dirt as she struggles to get air into her lungs. The two eventually calm down taking in a few deep breaths, Wilbur tilting his gaze up towards the sky before speaking again.

“No man really wants a bastard marrying their daughter,” he states almost solemnly.

Niki stares in shock at his confession, letting his words sink in before asking, “And Tommy is your younger brother? Is he a bastard as well?”

“No. We have the same father but different mothers. I have another younger brother named Dave, but he now goes by Technoblade,”

“The assassin and bounty hunter?”

Wilbur nods, “Yes, we had the same mother, but she never married our father before she died. My father later married and had Tommy with a lovely woman named Kristin,”

Niki nods back, letting the silence wash over both of them as she takes in everything the young man has told her. She lets out a small laugh, “Well don’t feel bad. I’m 18 and no man wants to marry me either so I suppose we are in the same boat,”

Wilbur gives her a strikingly confused stare, “What do you mean ‘no man wants to marry me’? You’re quite the lovely woman,”

Niki laughs at his word, staring down at her lap, fidgeting with her hands, “No man wants to marry a woman who doesn’t need to be provided for. Believe me, it was the same story back in my own village. ‘Niki why do you work so hard?’ ‘Why don’t you let the men do this while you go cook for us?’” Niki groans at the memories, “All they wanted was a helpless little girl who would feed them and give them plenty of heirs to their family name. That’s all I was to them. So, I decided that I would never allow a man to marry me unless he loved me for who I was and not something he tried to make of me,”

Wilbur gives her a small smile when she tilts her head back up to look at him beside her. His face then wrinkles up in confusion as his eyes shift to the ground, “Wait if you didn’t just want to be a regular wife to some village man then why did you agree to the boys’ offer?”

Niki laughs as their eyes meet again, “Because this-” she raises her arms to the surrounding area of nearly finished houses and imposing walls, “-is for a much greater cause than being chained to a boring life always stuck in the same house doing the same charade day after day. Here I’m helping win a war, even if I may not raise a sword to your enemies. I will care for those who ask for care. Not those who think they deserve it when they don’t,”

Wilbur smiles and nods, understanding the meaning her words held. The two continued to talk for some time before deciding to settle in for the night, so as to not keep the boys awake when they returned. 

Understandably, Niki didn’t sleep well on her first night laying in the cold dirt. She would occasionally wake up to try and shift into a more comfortable position until she fell back asleep for another hour or so until she was roused once again from her sleep by some other issue. Sometimes when she awoke she could hear Wilbur shuffling beside her quite aggressively, but he’d stop before she could have the chance to check on him. She would wake to hear him muttering to himself and she’d roll over at some point to see him sitting up in his bedding. Nearing dawn, Niki awoke to see that Wilbur had left his tent, his uniform being gone as well, and his bedding being rather frigid when she lay her palm against it. 

This did nothing but add to her worry. Not only was the general hardly eating, but it appeared that he wasn’t sleeping either. Niki looked up at the sky to see the beginnings of the new day peeking over the large walls, deciding that now was a good time to start her tasks. She sighs as she peels back her covers and stands, stretching her sore limbs from the uncomfortable slumber that she will soon have to become accustomed to. The short woman then reaches for her dress, quickly beginning to shuffle her way into it so that none of the boys awaken to see her dressing. 

She quickly gets to work looking around for a good plot of land to begin her farming. Sadly L’Manberg was made of uneven ground, completely ill suited for planting crops. Niki now understood why the boys were unable to grow their own food until she was brought in. She finds a decently sized area and places a few left over stakes from her tent on the areas that she was going to flatten out. She rolls up her sleeves and walks over to a small wooden chest beside Fundy’s tent and riffles through it, looking for a shovel, hoe and bucket. She eventually finds all the needed items, closing the chest and is then immediately met with a pair of striking ocean blue eyes and orange fox ears. Niki lets out an audible yelp and jumps back a bit, the shovel nearly slipping out of her hold as she did so. 

She breathes out a sigh as she readjusts her hold on the tools, “You must be Wilburs son Fundy?”

The young boys tail swishes behind him as he leans his forearms onto the lid of the chest, “And you must be Nikita,”

“Niki is just fine thank you,” she smiles down at him before moving the tools all into her left arm and extending her right hand to Fundy.

He takes it into his hand and examines it for a brief moment, clearly deciding on what would be the appropriate action to take. Fundy quickly brings her knuckles to lips for a much quicker and messier version of how Wilbur had greeted her the night before, his grip much tighter around her hand. Niki lets out a laugh at his attempt and Fundy gives her a confused look.

“Did I do it wrong?”

Niki continues to laugh softly before retracting her hand from Fundys and bringing it up to lightly pet his bright red hair. 

“No. You did just fine Fundy,” his ears flatten out as she pets him and a small blush makes its way across his cheeks.

The older woman laughs lightly at him again before bringing her hand back to her chest to help hold the rest of the tools. Fundy’s ears shoot back up at her movement and quickly walks around the chest to take the shovel from her hand.

“Can I help you?” he looks up at her with a pleading gaze as his tail continues to shift behind him.

Her smile brightens at his question, “Of course you can! Come, let us get started!” she extends her hand out to him which he happily takes as they walk back over the marked plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Suggestions are Welcome!
> 
> Just no hate please.


	3. From Bad to Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning (besides the obvious): Historically inaccurate men's underwear cause I'm lazy

A week has passed and Niki believes that she’s done wonderfully. The crops have been planted and are growing rather wonderfully. Fundy has helped her herd livestock into the newly built fences. The houses are completely done, all furnished and decorated to their owners desires. There were four houses but only three were occupied, until they offered the ‘spare’ one to Niki, which she gladly took. Wilbur had his own along with Fundy, but Fundy’s was still right next to his father's home. Tommy and Tubbo shared one as well, their house being slightly bigger so as to accommodate for two instead of one. 

She was gradually getting the boys to eat more as well, since they now have a good source of food. The three youngers completely devoured whatever she gave them, but Wilbur for some reason couldn’t keep anything down. The first night he ate something that wasn’t soup, he threw up all over the base of a tree. Niki sent him straight to bed and told him to stay there. Some nights she would try to calm Wilbur through whatever nightmares he had and try to get him to sleep better. He would more often than not accept her help and listen to her hum a soft tune and hold his hand gently in hers until he fell asleep, but Niki would still rise to find him gone by the time the sun was up. Though the nights he entirely refused her aid were the worst in Niki’s opinion. The poor general would be on the verge of tears, frantic breaths leaving his mouth as he scrambled to unwrap the bedding from his legs to redress himself in the newly washed and repaired uniform. She would try and calm him, but he would completely ignore her words and quickly walk away from her towards the wall. Niki felt awful for the young general, who seemed like a kind man plagued by his own mind. 

Niki rose from her slumber to once again find Wilbur gone from his tent. She frowned at the cold bedding, letting out a sigh before rising for the new day as well. They had all agreed the night before that they would spend one last night sleeping outside together before fully moving into their separate homes. She stretches her arms above her head and begins looking around in the dim lighting at her surroundings, deciding on what to spend her day on. She sets her eyes on the wall surrounding her and begins walking towards the direction she saw Wilbur heading in hours before. Niki hoists up the skirt of her dress as she extends her leg over a rather muddy puddle and continues walking. 

She rounds a tree at the edge of the wall and is met with the sight of Wilbur slumped against the wall, a pickaxe and small crate of building materials at his side as he tentatively nibbles away at a biscuit that Niki quickly realizes is one of the dozen she made the other day. They were left in a cupboard above her stove. She raises an eyebrow at the older man once their eyes meet. 

Niki leans her weight against the tree, “Quite a tasty biscuit isn’t it General,”

Wilbur swallows thickly and lets out a small hum, “Yes, it is quite delicious,”

She hums back, “I wonder where you got it from,”

He hastily shoves the rest of his treat into his left coat pocket before standing just as quickly in an attempt to explain himself, until his gaze seems far away and he begins to stumble forward a bit. Niki quickly rushes over and places an arm around his back and a hand on his chest.

“Hey, it’s alright. I wasn’t going to scold you or anything. You don’t need to hurt yourself trying to explain. I was rather happy seeing you finally eat something,”

Wilbur lets out an airy chuckle as he attempts to stabilize his footing, “Sorry. I just became… lightheaded. All of a sudden,”

His words were spoken in a hushed and breathy tone, causing Nikis eyes to fill with worry. She raises her hand that was on his chest against his forehead, which was sweaty and too warm to be considered healthy. “Come. We should take you back to your home so that you can rest,”

Wilbur nods and pushes Niki off of him slightly so he could stand fully, their hands finding each other as Niki pulls him along through the trees. They walk slowly, the older man quickly losing his footing again and almost falling into Niki. He apologies, but the smaller woman waves it off with a small smile. They continue walking until the sun’s midday glow shines upon their backs and Niki glances behind her slightly to see the taller general dragging his feet, seemingly unable to pick them up more than a centimeter or so off the ground. She frowns, but says nothing and glances up at his face. In the light Niki can now see the paleness of his skin and the sweat that is causing his usually fluffy locks to stick to his forehead as if he just went swimming in the river. His eyes are cast downwards to their linked hands, seemingly lost in his own head. Niki runs her thumb over his knuckles as she turns her gaze back forward.

As they neared the campfire, where the other three boys were clearly just awakening from their slumber and were dressing themselves, Wilbur's grip on Nikis hand loosened, “Niki. I think I’m about to-”

Suddenly there was a large weight pressing down on Nikis back causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground with a loud yelp. She places her hands under her and against the hard ground as she tries to push herself up, but is stopped by the surprisingly immense weight of the lanky general who hasn’t eaten anything in most likely months. The sound of thundering footsteps halts her next attempts as she yells for the boys to come help.

“What is it?! What happened?!” Tubbo yells as the trio come into her slightly limited view.

“I don’t know. I think he passed out. Help get him off me and turn him over onto his back, then take him back to the house,”

The boys quickly set to work each grabbing a limb. Tubbo and Fundy each take one of his arms while Tommy takes both of his brothers legs. They turn him onto his back off of Niki then slowly raise him up off the ground and briskly walk to Wilbur’s new house. Niki places her hands on the back of Wilbur’s head to keep it elevated with the rest of his body until they all try and somehow successfully fit through the front door all at once and lay the general onto his mattress. 

“Fundy can you lift him up for me please,” Niki says through slightly strained breaths as the young boy lifts his father into a sitting position.

The blonde quickly begins stripping him of his long coat, scarf and under shirt, tossing them unceremoniously across the room as she tells Fundy to lay him back down. She tells Tubbo to retrieve a bucket of cold water and a clean cloth, which he hastily nods to and runs back out of the house. Niki quickly removes one boot while Tommy gets the other, both landing with loud thuds against the wooden floor. 

“Tommy raise his legs up-”

“You’re taking off his pants?!”

“Yes. He’s burning up badly and his skin needs to cool off,”

“But he’s shaking,” Fundy interjects. 

Niki huffs out a sigh as she finally takes a good look at him. His chest and face are covered in a thin layer of sweat, but his limbs tremble as if he’s been out in a blizzard. 

“What is happening to him?” Fundy asks after a beat of silence fills the tense room.

“Wilbur has become very ill and-” she glances back at the generals continuously trembling form, “-this is what happens when people become ill,”

“Is he going to be alright?” Tommy asks from behind her.

“Yes. He just needs food and rest. Now please help me get his pants and socks off so that his body can cool down,”

Tommy hesitates before nodding and helping the older woman strip his brother of what is left of his outerwear, only leaving him in a small piece of cloth covering his crotch. Tommy lifts up Wilbur's legs while Fundy lifts his hips so that Niki can pull out his covers. She quickly gets them out and lays them over his body, tucking them right up to his chin. Tubbo returns with what was requested and sets them beside Wilbur's bed.

“Fundy. Do you know if Wil owns any bowls,” said boy nods and runs out to retrieve one.

He returns not a moment later with a small brown bowl, handing it off to the small woman. Niki dips it into the bucket and lays it onto the table beside the general's bed. She takes the cloth and soaks it into the water, squeezing out the excess and folding the cloth into a rectangle, then placing it over Wilbur’s forehead. She runs her hands over the covers on his chest, flattening them out, before stepping back, ushering the boys out of the room and closing the door slightly.

“Why is he like this?!” Tommy asks quickly.

“Ya, one second he was alright and the next he’s passed out on top of you!” Tubbo adds.

“What happened that made him like this?!” Fundy yells at the older woman.

“Boys please. If you calm down I can explain,” she moves them to Wilbur’s small lounge area and tells them to sit.

She explains how he hasn’t been eating much or sleeping, Tommy says that’s normal for him, but Niki quickly shuts down his statement, “Didn’t you see how thin he was? He hasn’t eaten anything substantial in weeks or even months!”

“Why hasn’t he then? We’ve been doing fine!” Tommy yells back.

Niki sighs, “You’ve all been doing fine because he’s been giving you his food,”

The trio fall silent, “What?” 

“He’s been giving you his food. Has been until I arrived and made him stop, but now-”

“He can’t keep anything down without throwing it back up,” Tubbo adds solemnly.

Niki nods and the boys fall silent again. She can feel the guilt settling on their shoulders as the new information sinks in. 

Tommy suddenly breaks the silence, “Is-is he gonna be alright?”

“I will do what I can to help him Tommy. You have my word,”

Tommy nods then slowly stands to his feet, “Then what can we do to help?”


	4. False Awakenings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:  
> 1\. Heavy angst (I think I don't read much angst)  
> 2\. Extremely detailed vomiting (I got queasy from writing it and my friend got queasy from reading it) there is a warning for it in the chapter  
> 3\. It's super long dear god this was 6 pages on docs  
> 4\. I live to give you whiplash (you'll know what I mean)

A few days have passed and Wilbur still hasn’t awoken once. Niki has decidedly moved into the young generals lounge and has been sleeping there so as to keep a better eye on him. She has been making food for the boys who stop by regularly after patrols and supply runs to see how Wilbur’s doing. Niki has not allowed any of them to see him yet, afraid that the guilt that is so clearly weighing all of them down will only increase. She has only been making Wilbur soup and feeding him only the broth, having to situate herself behind his head and lift him up slightly in order for it to go down. 

Another day has passed of the same somber routine Niki has set for herself. Wake up, check on the general, make breakfast for everyone. Eat and then feed Wilbur, clean, check on Wilbur again, wash the clothes, attend to the livestock and crops. Make lunch and feed the boys, feed the general and attempt to wash him down with a cold cloth, attempt to keep his blood flow consistent by moving around his limbs. Make dinner, eat with the boys, check and feed Wilbur one last time before bed. She was currently in the process of fixing Wilbur’s sheets for the millionth time before she passed out in her makeshift bed. Once she is satisfied, Niki steps back to make sure everything is in order before turning towards the door and heading out, closing it softly behind her. 

She settles against the stiff couch, clearly meant for only sitting instead of fully laying upon, but Niki will take it over the floor. She shuffles around against the pillow before pulling out one of Wilbur’s few books from his collection that Tommy had lent her after the second night to keep her mind off of ‘the bad things’ as he called it. She was well into the book and the candle light beside her had burnt half of the wick when she suddenly heard violent coughing and gagging coming from the bedroom. Niki sets the book back onto the table, not even bothering to mark her place, before she’s sprinting down the short hallway into the general's room where she flings the door open.

~~~~~Explicit and detailed Vomiting plz skip if you’re squeamish~~~~~

The sight before her nearly makes her gag herself as her eyes set upon Wilbur up on his forearms leaning over the right side of his bed facing the door and vomiting up the contents of his stomach. Since he hasn’t ingested much beyond liquids, his vomit at the beginning was rather watery, but as he continued to throw up his digestive system all that seemed to come out of his mouth was stomach bile. Niki quickly turns around to quickly run out and grab a clean bucket by the cow paddock before sprinting back and getting onto Wilbur’s bed beside his legs. Thankfully he was no longer vomiting, but was now excessively dry heaving and gagging. 

Niki reaches over, narrowly avoiding the drool and snot falling from Wilbur's face, and grabs his right shoulder in her gentle grasp. She pushes him up into a sitting position and places the bucket in his lap, pressing it firmly against his chest. He leans back against the wall behind him, but beyond that he doesn’t move. Niki positions his arms around the bucket and presses it more into his chest. The barely lucid man seems to understand and holds the bucket a little closer to him and leans his head down as he continues gagging. She quickly rises and grabs the bucket and rag used for cleaning and fills it with water and soap. Niki walks back into the bedroom to find Wilbur hunched over the bucket now only spitting into it, most likely trying to get the fowl taste out of his mouth, though he’s now shaking and whimpering. 

~~~~~You are now safe to continue have a nice day~~~~~

The younger woman sighs and walks over to the side of the bed that Wilbur just threw up all over. Thankfully he missed the sheets, one less thing for Niki to clean, but the floor and part of the bed frame are completely covered in his stomach's contents. She sighs again, pinching her eyebrows together with her thumb and index finger before getting to work scrubbing. Once she had finished removing Wilbur’s digested meals from the floor she quickly realized that she forgot a dry rag to soak up the water. Niki stands and steals a glance at Wilbur to see that he had passed out again. Releasing a sigh, she takes the bucket from his limp arms and sets it onto the floor before moving the blankets aside to drag his body back to laying on the bed. 

She grabs his ankles and as gently as she could possibly be, pulls Wilbur’s lanky form down the bed until his head is mostly back to resting against his pillow. The smaller woman stands up straight to catch her breath and then makes her way up to the head of his bed to fix the young general's head into a more comfortable position. Niki pulls the covers up over his body then reaches for the bowl of water and soggy rag to wipe his lips and chin of vomit and snot. As she sets the rag back in the bowl, deciding now to take it with her to clean, she turns towards the door to retrieve a dry rag when she hears whimpering behind her. 

The tired woman turns her head to see Wilbur twitching and moving his head around, releasing panicked and pained noises. Niki quickly walks back over and empties her hands before grabbing Wilbur’s face gently in an attempt to calm him.

“Wil. Wil it's just a dream. It’s alright none of it is real,” Niki attempts in a small voice.

He continues to move around, becoming more frantic by the second, “Wil! Please it’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you. No one’s going to hurt you,” her voice is slightly more distressed as tears slip from the older man's eyes.

He mumbles something, but the words seem too quiet and incoherent for Niki to catch. Instead of focusing on his noises, Niki settles herself on the side of the bed and begins softly running her fingers through Wilbur’s hair in a new attempt at soothing him out of his panicked state. 

“It’s alright,” she whispers, “Everything's alright,”

“No,” Niki was able to catch the small, whimpered word as the tears kept flowing, “Leave them alone,”

The blonde continues her mantra of soft words as she listens to the man babble nonsense. One spur of lines though does halt all her comforting movements.

“Run. Tommy. Tubbo. Run,”

“Fundy. Leave me. Go,”

“No. Take me,”

“Leave them alone,”

“Please,”

“Don’t hurt them,”

Niki feels some of her own tears fall from her pale eyes as she quickly shuffles around till she is laying beside Wilbur, albeit almost halfway off the bed, her head against his chest, one hand drawing comforting circles against his bare chest and the other firmly grasped in his own. She listens to his whimpers and words until his shaky breaths eventually even out and he’s peacefully resting again. Niki debates returning to her own makeshift bedding in the other room. Debates on leaving the fragile man to his own mind before leaning up on her arm that was held in Wilbur’s still tight grasp. She takes in his now calm but tear soaked features before reaching her free hand up and rubbing the remnants of his memories from his cheeks with her thumb. 

She lets out an audible sigh and, “This is incredibly improper,” before standing and pulling the blankets away to settle herself more comfortably beside the general, her hand never leaving his.

The smaller woman becomes flustered as the parts of her bare legs not hidden by her nightgown brush against Wilbur’s. She attempts to ignore it, fearing that she won’t get a bit of sleep. Those thoughts are immediately shot away when, in what seems like the next moment for Niki, the first shimmers of the morning light start pouring through the shaded windows. 

The blonde quickly sits up and slips out of the warm covers when she hears the boys entering the small home, most likely for breakfast. The confused looks she receives upon exiting Wilbur’s room still dressed in her nightly attire does nothing for her already burning cheeks. 

Niki takes a breath and walks over to her pile of day clothes, muttering out, “I fell asleep looking after him last night,” before leaving swiftly to the washroom to change.

This wasn’t a complete lie, just not the whole truth. Niki would rather die than admit she slept in the same bed as a man she wasn’t married or related to. She exits the washroom, freshly changed and mid-attempt at tying her bun when Tommy stops her.

“What happened last night that you fell asleep in my brother's room?”  
Niki fights down the fire beginning to rekindle on her face, “He began throwing up so I cleaned the floor and part of the bed. I went to leave, but-” she pauses, looking away from the irritatingly taller boy.

“But what?”

“He began having a nightmare . I stayed to comfort him the best I could and it seems that I just ended up falling asleep,”

Tommy eyes her suspiciously, leaning a little too closely for her comfort, before his eyes drifted from her own towards her fumbling hands, “Do you need a hand there?”

Niki raises an eyebrow, eyeing the boys short blonde hair, “You know how to tie a bun?”

Tommy leans away and shrugs, “My older brother, Dave not Wilbur, used to grow his hair out rather long. He told me that a quick way to a woman's heart was to know how to help with her hair,”

He ends this with a rather smug look that Niki chuckles at, “Alright,” she begins walking back to the kitchen, taking a seat at the small dining table, “Win my heart then Tommy,” she couldn’t help the small giggles she let out at her own statement, that Tommy seemingly ignores.

He doesn’t ignore the other two’s snickers though, pointedly turning and shouting at them to shut it, though this only turned their snickers to full on laughter. The three continue to pass around banter, Niki joining in every other comment, while Tommy begins separating the blonde strands into the grooves of his fingers. After several minutes the younger boy pulls his hands away in a proud exclamation of his accomplishment. Tubbo and Fundy clap for Tommy’s achievement, the brunette suddenly rising and running back to the washroom to grab the small hand held mirror there. Nik raises her hands up to drag her fingers along her now done up hair, shocked to find neatly woven braids along her scalp leading to the bun situated nicely on the back of her head.

“I can’t wait to see how it looks Tommy,” she turns in the chair to face Tommy, “Though I do believe you have won my heart, well done good sir,”

Tommy takes her outstretched hand and dips his head and upper body in a bow, before helping her rise from her chair. She laughs as he spins her around, Fundy laughing as well in the background.

“Why thank you milady. I will cherish your heart that you have so graciously given me,” Tommy states smugly.

The three laugh before Niki walks over to the cupboard to finally begin breakfast. Fundy comes up beside her with a soft smile and firewood, placing it under the stove and lighting it with a match that Niki side eyes him for having.

He rubs the back of his head, about to defend himself for having such a dangerous item when all of them freeze upon hearing a rather loud, “Tubbo run!” come from Wilbur’s room. The trio quickly run to Wilbur’s room to find a shaking Tubbo pressed against the wall directly across from the general's bed beside the door, said man lying as still in his bed as Niki had awoken to earlier. 

The small woman shifts her gaze to Tubbo, whose mouth was covered by the hand not holding the mirror, tears pouring out of his wide blue-grey eyes. Niki kneels beside him and turns him away from Wilbur to face her concerned face.

“Tubbo what happened? Are you alright?”

The small brunette nods shakily, “Ya. I-... I was just passing by. And I wanted to see him. I sat down and… started talking to him,” He pauses to breathe in through his nose and wipe a few of the tears away, “Just normal stuff ya know and - and then he started mumbling and I tried to shake him awake but then he yelled-”

“For you to run,” Fundy finishes, his eyes still on his fathers now peaceful form.

Tubbo nods as he chokes out a sob, bringing his knees to his chest and curling in on himself. Niki brings him into a hug as the young boy continues to sob into her shoulder, his arms wrapping around her instinctively.

“Has he always been like this?” Tommy asks, now turning his gaze to Niki.

She shakes her head, “No this just started last night as far as I know. I’ve never heard him say such things before,”

Tommy nods, silently raising his arm up around Fundy’s shoulders, bringing his not much younger nephew into a side hug. 

A few days pass and not a single one of them have spoken of what happened. Niki now allows the boys to visit and to talk with Wilbur, since talking seems to bring him back bit by bit. Though the blonde woman nearly revoked the new allowance when on Tommy’s latest visit Wilbur had opened his eyes, looked his younger brother straight in the eyes and muttered out through small sobs, “Are you proud of me dad?” Tommy nearly had a breakdown at the olders words, so much so that Niki had to walk him back to his shared home with her arms around his waist as he fought back the tears. Wilbur has only woken up a few times to greet the trio. Once for Tommy and Tubbo and twice for Fundy, but he has awoken three times for Niki, albeit the first time wasn’t for her it was to throw up his digestive system, but she still counts it.

After hours of attempting to sleep on the hard lounge bench, Niki was once again roused by Wilbur calling out to the empty night air. She stands and stretches before making her way to his room for her nightly comforting. To say she was surprised to hear Wilbur’s change of words when she opened the door was an understatement.

“Please don’t go,”

“Don’t leave me,”

“It’s not my fault,”

“I can be better,”

“Please don’t leave me alone,”

Her eyes threaten to spill more tears as she releases the door from her gentle grasp and walks over to the side of the bed to gently run her fingers along his scalp. She shushes him quietly, grabbing the rag from the water bowl and running it along his forehead to cool him down and wipe a bit of his sweat away. As she turns to place the rag back in the bowl and ring it out before reapplying it, a shaking hand barely brushes against her jaw, causing her to flinch away at the sudden touch. Pale blue meets dark brown as Niki stares down at Wilbur’s half lidded eyes. He reaches up again to brush the pads of his fingers along her chin, a small lopsided smile adoring his pale features.

“You stayed,” he whispers, almost in disbelief, staring into her eyes as she steps a bit closer to take his hand in both of hers, bringing his nearly limp hand to rest upon her cheek.

“Yes Wil. I’m here. I’m right here,” she runs her left hand through his hair again.

His head turns, as if to lean into her touch, “You stayed. They never stay this long,”

Niki gives him a confused look as he strokes her cheek gently with his hand, “What do you mean by that Wil?”

His smile never falters, “No one has ever cared enough to stay this long,”

Her eyes widen at his confession, but before she can respond he mutters out a small, “Thank you Niki,” before he’s out again, though his smile remains. Niki hopes that he sleeps peacefully tonight as she sets his hand back to his side and turns to leave the room, she is definitely having a talk with Tommy in the morning.


	5. Cleansing of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had to look up how people during the American Revolution took heated baths for this. 
> 
> I am so glad for modern plumbing and heating. 
> 
> My gf was mumbling romantic poetics and Shakespearian memes to my while I wrote this. 
> 
> Good lord this is so long and rushed I'm sorry..
> 
> Beta readers were unable to read parts of this so there's most likely missing words, but I couldn't delay this another day!

Niki sighs, tapping her foot against the hard wood of the floor, her hands on her hips as she runs through every possible way of not doing what she needs to do in a way that isn’t entirely awkward. She had noticed earlier that morning that the general smelled particularly bad and found that his hair had returned to its greasy state, much to her dismay. So, she stands in the middle of Wilbur’s room, debating on how she was going to get him clean without actually having to bathe the grown man. She lets out an audible groan, running her calloused hands down her face as she ultimately decides that it’s going to be awkward no matter what. There was no better way of getting the man clean without physically having to scrub him down herself. Niki quickly leaves the room to thankfully find Tommy and Fundy still in the kitchen after just finishing breakfast.

“Do you two mind helping me with something?”

The two boys glance at each other, eyebrows slightly raised in questions and confusion, “Sure what is it?”

Niki feels the familiar heat shift from her ears to her cheeks, “I need to clean Wilbur and wash his bedding. Now I am not strong enough to move him to the washroom and I need you two to get him out of bed then carry him back in when I’m done,”

“Wait you’re gonna wash him?” Tommy asks.

“Yes he’s very sweaty and he smells. He needs to be washed rather badly,”

“...he’s going to be naked,” Tommy mumbles out.

“You don’t think I’m aware of that Tommy!” Niki yells, her face now completely red.

The younger blonde holds his hands up in front of him at the smaller woman's outburst, “Alright. Alright. But I’m staying in there while you do, no funny business,”

“I can wash the sheets for you if you’d like,” Fundy quickly adds, his tail brushing against the chairs as it swishes back and forth.

Niki takes in a breath to calm herself of the outburst, “Alright. It’ll be easier then have to track you down again and thank you Fundy that would be much appreciated,”

Fundy nods happily as Niki scratches behind his left ear in thanks, his entire body pleasantly leaning into her soft touch. She pulls away and starts leading the two boys to Wil’s room. After a bit of struggle, Tommy and Fundy were able to carry Wilbur through the door of the washroom that Niki thankfully left open for them, while she quickly strips the bed, throwing the sweaty bedding into a wicker basket she grabbed earlier and leaving it off to the side of Wil’s bedroom for Fundy. The boys exit the washroom and where then instructed to retrieve the recently heated water from outside, which they left swiftly to retrieve. Niki opens Wilbur’s wardrobe and is unsurprisingly met with a near empty shelf and hanging rack. Thankfully there was a fresh change of bedding in the drawer below, but Niki was having a hard time finding a fresh pair of underwear. She begins to silently panic as she practically digs through the small amount of clothes the man possesses in a flustered search for anything to cover him after he is clean. The boys return with the hot water and are shuffling back through the washroom door when Niki calls out to Tommy asking if Wilbur has more than one pair of underwear to his name. 

There was a pause, which didn’t help Niki’s already flustered brain, “He should have at least one more pair I think. I’ll help you look after we pour this in the tub,”

Niki lets out a sigh and thanks the younger boy before standing and bringing the new bedding over to Wilbur’s surprisingly soft mattress. She remakes the bed surprisingly quickly to the point where the two boys barely had to wait after pouring the hot water and bringing the large tub used to carry the water back outside.

Fundy didn’t fail to comment on this fact, “Wow that was fast,”

Niki chuckles as she smooths out the blankets laying overtop the bedding, now satisfied with their positions, “I’ve made quite a few beds before, so I sort of have the hang of it,”

The two boys raise an eyebrow at each other quizzically, “That’s a rather strange thing to say-”

“Anyways, the dirty beddings over there Fundy and Tommy if you’ll help me undress Wilbur, that would be much appreciated,” She quickly cuts off the comment, swiftly walking back over to the wardrobe to continue her search, Tommy hesitantly following behind as Fundy leaves the room with the basket.

With an extra pair of hands and eyes they were able to find the only other pair of underwear this poor man owned and returned to the washroom to attend to the task at hand. Niki takes in a breath, closing her eyes as she mentally prepares for the fact that she was about to wash a grown unconscious man. Wilbur was set off to the side against the wall in an upright position so as the boys would not trip over him when moving the water, so it was rather easy for Tommy to pick him up by his shoulders and not so gently drag his older brother to the heated tub. Niki feels her face bloom with heat as she squeezes her eyes closed and slides Wilbur’s underwear down his legs and off his feet, quickly standing and throwing them to the side to be thoroughly washed later. Tommy takes this as his initiative to set Wilbur against the side of the tub and swivel his legs in before setting the rest of his body in until he’s nearly chest deep in the water, Niki moving behind him to support his head. 

She quickly sets to work wetting her hands in the warm water and runs her fingers through his greasy locks. She pushes his long curls back away from his face, holding them against his head as she cups the water in her free hand and running it along his scalp. She does this a few more times, successfully flattening out the puffiness that usually surrounds the generals head. Niki can’t help the flush that covers her face as she attempts to keep her gaze focused on his peaceful face instead of his naked body being soaked by the steaming water. Niki takes in every detail, how his once heavy bags have receded to almost nothing, but in their wake a rather large amount of unkempt scruff line his jaw. She hears a small snicker in the corner and turns her head sharply to glare at the blonde boy sitting in the corner, his hands going up to cover the large smirk gracing his fair face. 

The smaller woman is quick to lather shampoo through his hair and rinsing it out, wanting to be thorough while also wanting the embarrassing flush on her face to disappear so the taller boy would stop making fun of her for it. 

She sits back and sighs, “Tommy. Can you lift Wilbur so he’s standing please? I need to wash the rest of him,”

Tommy nods, a smug look on his face while he slowly makes his way over to the blonde girl, who moves away from her position at Wilbur’s head so the other blonde could take her place, “Are you sure you want me to lift him? I’m pretty sure you’re head will burst from all the blood rushing to it,”

She smacks him with a towel, earning a loud yelp from the younger boy as he slides he rolls up his sleeves and lifts his older brother up until anything below his shins is still submerged. Niki quickly sets to work lathering the bar of soap with a bit of water before running it across his still rather skinny body. She pauses, her face impossibly heating up more as she runs the soap along his manhood, Wilbur’s body flinching slightly at the sudden contact. She continues washing the front of the general, surprisingly not hearing any snarky noises or comments from Tommy, until she rises again and sees him about to burst a lung from how hard he’s trying not to laugh. She smacks the back of his head and asks for him to turn Wilbur around.

He does, a few snickers breaking the awkward silence, and Niki after throwing Tommy another glare, just as quickly washes his back and legs, clearly avoiding his rear until after she’s thoroughly washed his feet. She stops again, leaning her head back and groaning as Tommy lets out a choked laugh. Niki runs the bar of soap along his backside, earning a sound of discomfort from the taller man as she does so.

After a lengthy rinse and drying, all done by a flustered Niki while Tommy held Wil up, snickering and cackling all the while, they finally had the general freshly clothed in his only other pair of underwear and back under the clean covers. Niki lets out a relief filled sigh at the awkward event finally being over.

Tommy walks up beside her and nudges her gently, “You did alright, but I have to ask what was more embarrassing? Cleaning up his back or his,” he nods towards Wilbur, “ya know,”

The heat from earlier had returned tenfold as Niki punches Tommy’s arm, pauses, then repeatedly punches him in the side and shoulder.

Tommy quickly backs away from her continued assault, holding his side in a pain filled grasp, “Ow! That actually hurt!”

She punches him in the shoulder, “Don’t you ever say that Tommy!”

“Say what?! I was just asking a question!” Tommy kept walking backwards, not even noticing that the two had left Wilbur’s room until his back collided with a startled Fundy who was just returning with the freshly washed sheets.

His ears raise in alarm as Tommy quickly ducks behind the smaller boy to avoid anymore surprisingly strong punches from the angered woman, “What’s going on-”

Niki quickly grabs the basket from Fundy, Tommy sinking even further behind his nephew-shield. She takes in a breath, anger still clear in her eyes when they resettle on the frightened boys.

Her voice is scarily calm as she speaks, “I will see you both at dinner,” she narrows her eyes at Tommy before calmly closing the door.

Tommy has never spent so long in trying to decide where to sit in his entire life. Wilbur’s dining table was only large enough to fit four, possibly six, people. Meaning he’d either be sitting beside or directly across from the slightly less angered woman currently making his dinner. He decides that beside was better than across, so that he wouldn’t be making direct eye contact with her every time he looked up. 

Dinner went well, the usual chatter filling the room as the four of them converse about their day, Tommy choosing, for his own safety, to not bring up anything that happened while bathing Wilbur. The blonde boy was slightly less talkative, but the other three brushed it off already knowing the reason why, Tommy having already filled in the small brunette beside him earlier that day. As Niki sends the trio off with leftovers and cheerful goodnights to each of them, she makes her way to Wilbur’s room to feed him the food she set aside earlier. 

The general, having been practically docile the past few days, lays peacefully still in his bed. Niki smiles to herself as she sets the bowl of soup on his nightstand and pulls the wooden chair up beside his bed. She pulls Wilbur up a bit so that his upper body was raised slightly, his head and shoulders against the pillows propped up against the headboard. The smaller woman falls into her chair, pulling it a forward again and stirs the contents of the steaming bowl with the spoon. She raises it to her lips, a hand below to catch any rouge droplets, blowing the steam away before placing the spoon against the general's lips. They part, almost on instinct, as Niki pours the soup into his mouth, him swallowing a moment later. This slow routine continues until the bowl lay cold and empty beside Niki as she wipes any excess soup from Wilbur’s lips. She walks to the end of the bed and pulls him down again so as to lay flat, his pillows unsurprisingly becoming disheveled in the process. She fluffs and sets them back into place, no longer flinching as a gentle hand runs along the seam of her dress skirt.

She smiles affectionately at the slightly lucid man as he fiddles with the fabric between his fingers, her hand reaching up from the pillow to run through his now soft curls. She seats herself back on the chair, folding her forearms down on the soft sheets and laying her head against them. Wilbur turns his gaze to meet hers, a soft smile gracing his relaxed features as he reaches his right hand up, running his knuckles along her cheek with only a slight shake in his gentle gesture.

Her face heats up slightly at his endearing gaze, her eyes darting down to stare at the edge of the pillow, her smile turning bashful. Wilbur attempts to roll on his side, but Niki stops him with her own gentle touch against his chest. She traces her fingers up his collarbone after he’s settled back against the bed, her touch moving up his neck and across his jaw to rest upon his own cheek, her thumb rubbing against his skin soothingly. His hand unfurls so that the back of his rather large hand lay across her face, stroking it gently and nearly covering half of it and obscuring part of her vision. They remain silent as they share the small touches and long gazes that speak a thousand words for them.

Wilbur laughs gently, breaking the silence, “Prime, you’re so beautiful,”

Niki flushes deeply at his sudden compliment, “Especially when you become all flustered like this,”

The younger woman buries her burning face into the crook of her arm as Wilbur slowly tangles his fingers into the strands of hair falling out of her bun. After a moment to calm the flames dancing over her cheeks that Wilbur so eagerly lit, Niki rises and moves out of reach of Wilbur’s hands.

“You should get some sleep. I’ll check on you in the morning,”

Wilbur smiles and nods slowly, before slowly relaxing against his pillows, falling back into the arms of unconsciousness once again. Niki smiles, running her hand across his cheek one more time before retracting her touch and turning to walk out of the room to settle in for the night, but immediately halts when her gaze settles on the blonde boy standing in the doorway, looking only slightly amused. 

The heat returns to her cheeks as Tommy raises an eyebrow at the slightly older woman, “It’s not what it looks like!” she whispers out.

Tommy waves her off with a smile, before gesturing with his head for her to walk through the door, “Let's leave him be,”  
Niki pauses, turning her head slightly towards the sleeping general before making her way out of the room, shutting the door behind her. They walk back to the lounge and seat themselves onto Niki’s bedding, Tommy letting out a quiet amused chuckle at Niki’s still red cheeks.

When she turns to defend herself, Tommy holds up his hand to stop her, “If you think I am mad I can assure you that I’m not,”

Niki’s shoulders relax at his words, “I’m-”

“If you apologize I’m gonna throw you into the lake,”

Niki gives him an offended look as her lips press together. Tommy breathes out another laugh at the look before relaxing against the back of the bench, his head turning up towards the ceiling, “Please don’t ever apologize for making him happy,”

At the boy's words, Niki’s mind is suddenly flooded with memories of Wilbur’s confession from the other night, “Tommy,” he lets out a quiet hum, “This is a rather strange question, but what were Wilbur’s past loves like?”

The boy turns towards her with a confused stare, “He told me before, when he woke up one time, that they never cared enough to stay long and he sounded surprised that I was still here. He also was saying how he didn’t want to be left alone,”

Tommy’s eyes widen, then turn spiteful as he crosses his arms and his body slides down a bit into a slumped position, “They were selfish and rude and didn’t deserve him!”

“What do you mean by that?”

He sighs, rubbing his eyes, “I came here trying to sleep Niki, not to get interrogated!”

She frowns, “Please tell me, then I can help you sleep without being distracted,”

He groans, but agrees with an exaggerated huff, “Wilbur used to fall in love really easily. Many women loved him for his charms and musical talents,”

Niki fought back the small laugh bubbling up at the rare occurrence of Tommy complimenting his older brother, “Everything would be fine at first, but then they would get to know him and find out he’s a bastard and it’s like they would all just leave! For no reason!”

“Or the really bad ones would try to change him or leave him for being him! They would cuss him out and say horrible things about him or to him. They would call him an unworthy bastard and I always want to punch those who do! He’s had horrible taste in women so far,” Tommy’s practically curled in on himself, deeply scowling at his knees as if they had just kicked Tubbo.

“I don’t understand why they would be so cruel towards him for being him or over something he can’t control,” his scowl melts into a sad frown as his bottom lips trembles, “They hurt him so many times and I couldn’t stop them,”

Niki surges forward and wraps her arms around the sniffling boy, “That is incredibly cruel, but it’s not your fault that they were cruel. At least you knew then and not later when Wil married one of them,”

Tommy lets out a small laugh at her comment, wiping away the snot and small tears that escaped his eyes, “Ya, I guess you’re right,” he laughs again, “But at least you’re here now,”

The blonde woman raises an amused, but quizzical eyebrow at the lanky boy, “What do you mean Tommy?”

He shifts into a more comfortable position, shrugging, “You’re one of the good ones,”

She laughs disbelievingly at his words, “I’m serious! I’ve seen the way he looks at you and the way you look at him,”

“The way he looks at me?” she skips over his comment about her.

Tommy rolls his eyes, “Before he decided to take the world's longest nap, even if he didn’t know you that long then he still looked at you that way,”

“What way?”

Tommy pauses, his hands gesturing wildly in front of his face as he attempts to think of the words, “Like-like you were the sun after a storm or the first rain in a drought!” he groans loudly, “I don’t know how to describe it! He looks at you like you’re everything good that’s in the world or-or,”

Realization flashes across his face as he turns towards Niki, “Like how he was looking at you a few minutes ago! Like he loves you,”

Niki lets out an accidental nervous laugh, “Like he loves me? Tommy we barely know each other and I’m honestly surprised that you’re having such a mature conversation with me,”

“I’m gonna ignore that last bit, but it’s true! He’s giving you the eyes and you’re giving them right back!” he points an accusing finger at Nikis face.

“Tommy-”

“Just admit it you’re in love with him!”

“Why are you encouraging this exactly?” Niki chuckles again.

Tommy rolls his eyes again, “Because even if you guys are gross and all lovey dovey around each other or whatever, my brother will be happy and that’s all I care about really,”

Niki remains silent as Tommy’s face morphs into one of pure smugness, as if he just solved the meaning of life. She opens her mouth to protest once again, but he holds up a hand to stop her words from forming.

“Nope. I will except no other arguments cause I know I’m right,”

“But-”

“No buts! Until you say you love him I don’t want to hear another word about this,”

Niki huffs out an amused laugh, “Alright. Alright. Moving on from… that, how about we deal with you not being able to sleep,”

Tommy nods as he settles himself against Niki as she begins humming a soft tune to him like she has done many nights since Wilbur has passed out, the young boy drifting off against her shoulder not too long after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Is perfectly comfortable writing smut and non sexual nudity scenes  
> My asexual beta reader: I do not see for like wives the pp is not real
> 
> Lol anyways, sorry for not updating yesterday like I said I would, I was writing this chapter, but then me and my beta readers got side tracked talking about future plans for the fic and timelines and then I went to bed and completely forgot to finish the chapter. I am very sorry but here it is now! It exists!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it and have a wonderful day.


	6. Flames of War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to stop writing at night so that my beta readers can actually read the whole thing before I post it.

Niki was awoken rather rudely to being violently shaken by Fundy who was screaming something at her. She raises her head from Wilbur’s chest a little deliriously to meet the smaller boy's fear filled eyes. Wilbur stirs beneath her at the sudden noise and curls his arm tighter around her shoulder, his other hand grasping hers loosely to keep her warmth against his side. She attempts to rub the sleep from her eyes and sit up, Fundy’s hands still holding her shoulders tightly as she stretches. The still passed out general groaning, seemingly in annoyance, rolling onto his side and wrapping his arms around Niki’s waist, calmly stirring more in his bed then he has in weeks. She blinks at the fox boy in front of her and suddenly his words cut through the fog of sleep.

“Niki get up there’s a fire outside the walls!”

Her brain takes only a second to register his words before she’s leaping out of Wilbur’s bed and grasp, not even bothering to set the covers back or change out of her nightgown, running ahead of Fundy and out of the house to see the orange glow surrounded by deep grey light up the early morning sky. She stands there for only a moment before she’s sprinting to the paddocks and tripping over the hay that lay around as she grabs a bucket. She slides into the lake a bit, the edge of her dress and forearms now soaked as she fills the bucket and is off sprinting once more to the entrance of the wall. She trips on uneven ground and stabs her bare feet with the pebbles along the dirt road as she passes the threshold, her skin light aglow with flaming trees surrounding the wall, thankfully cut off from lighting the entire forest ablaze with a large gap between the closest trees and the ones further down the hills. 

She peers to her left to see Tommy and Tubbo fighting off three intruders wielding swords of their own. Niki quickly hands Fundy the bucket of mostly spilled water and shouts to him to put out the fire before she’s sliding down the hill once more in her soaked and muddy nightgown to grab one of the wooden swords from the boy's small sparring area. Once it's in her hands she slides back into the mud, now covered up to her knees in the watery dirt, as she works her way back up the hill to the fight. Her feet sting from the open wounds being filled with dirt, but she runs forward anyways and strikes a dark haired attacker in the back of the head with the wooden sword. The slightly larger man falls forward with a startled yell of pain and Niki is quickly shoved into the dirt. The wind is knocked out of her from the quick fall, but she pushes herself up onto her elbows to see a hooded cloaked man wearing a white, cracked mask that covers his whole face with a slightly disturbing smile etched into it helping the man she just whacked. 

He kneels beside him and takes his skinnier elbow in his larger gloved hand, pulling him off the ground. He turns the man to face him and Niki can now clearly see the strange black lensed goggles covering his eyes, his face twisted in pain as his left hand goes up to touch the spot on his head that she hit rather hard. He pulls his hand back, which is now covered in dark liquid and the masked man slowly turns his head towards her and Niki doesn’t need to see his face to know what he was planning to do. She scrambles for her sword as the man rises easily, drawing his own from its sheath on his left hip, the shiny silver metal glistening orange from the flames behind her. Niki jumps to her feet as the man approaches her slowly, the tip of his blade dragging against the dirt. He’s much taller than her, though slightly shorter than Wilbur, but is still very intimidating. She takes hesitant steps back, her eyes filling with fear as she contemplates on her next move, her eyes flickering to everything around her in an attempt to formulate a plan. 

She sees the two boys fighting off the third intruder who also has a white bandana wrapped around his head, parts of it being slightly obscured by dark hair. Her eyes move back to the man still stalking towards her and she grits her teeth, making her decision as she leaps forward, narrowly dodging the swing of his sword, feeling the blade slices along her left arm as she slams the end of her weapon against the man's knee. He lets out a small grunt as his body falls partially to the ground and she turns to strike his head as well, though she’s stopped mid swing by the man's hand. The mud-covered woman attempts to tear her wooden weapon away from the man, but his grip only increases as he slowly stands once more to face her, wrenching the sword from her hand and tossing it aside. Niki, still feeling determined, launches her fist towards the man's face, which seems to catch him off guard as it connects with the edge of his mask and jaw, sending him stumbling backwards. She ignores the stinging pain blooming across her knuckles as she goes to swing at him again. He catches her fist this time in his large hand, applying so much pressure that she cries out in pain. 

He raises his right fist and Niki clenches her eyes shut as she prepares for the hit, which comes swiftly, his covered knuckles colliding with her left cheek and sending her into the mud once again. She raises a dirtied hand to her cheek as she looks back at the masked man only to see him lift his sword. Her eyes widen and she attempts to crawl away, but he plants a firm boot against her right ankle. She feels tears fall as his sword is raised towards her neck, the tip of the blade pressing against the underside of her chin, bringing her face up so they’re eyes meet. Niki grits her teeth and clenches her jaw, staring at the taller man defiantly, only a small hint of fear behind the fire dancing in her pale eyes. 

“You fight surprisingly well. For a nurse that is,” His voice is deep, but still held a mocking tone behind the amusement of his laugh. 

She scoffs at him, “Are you going to kill me for a simple head wound to your companion?”

He shakes his head, “Of course not, miss. That would be rather extreme of me, but let me make something clear to you. He’s not my companion, he’s my lover,”

Her eyes widen as the man continues to speak, now pressing the end of his blade against her right cheek, “So I’d be careful who you attack next time I’m around,”

He drags the blade across her cheek in a slow tantalizing motion, like he’s leaving a warning. She feels blood begin to trickly from the open wound, leaving a red line from the cut to her jaw and dripping onto her dress. He pulls his sword away and sheathes it beginning to turn away before stopping. He pears down at her, bringing his boot up and swiftly pressing it against the middle of her chest, causing her to be shoved to the ground. The man lets out a small chuckle before he’s interrupted by quick footsteps coming their way. He turns in time to be met with Wilbur’s sword slicing across part of his face, causing him to stumble backwards and let out a small cry of pain.

“Dream!” the man that Niki had hit earlier cries out behind her from his spot still on the ground, unable to get up due to his dizziness from her strike. 

Dream has a hand covering his masked face as Niki looks over at Wilbur’s slightly slumped form. The sheath for his sword is held tightly in his left hand while his sword is grasped with equal force in the other. His pants and under shirt he usually wears are slightly disheveled most likely from his running or haste to get them on, his bare feet now covered in the mud Niki has been sliding throughout the whole ordeal. She turns back when the masked man rose from his crouched position to see him take his hand away, the upper half of his mask coming with it. She continues to stare as emerald green eyes narrow at the general, a line of red right below them where the mask had been sliced apart. 

Wilbur lets out a shuddering breath as he attempts to stand tall, though his unused limbs buckle as the adrenaline wears away and he slumps forward, catching himself by shoving his sword into the dirt. A few drops of blood spill over the edge of Dream’s mask from the open wound, but he seems to pay it now mind as he raises a questioning eyebrow at the shaking general mere feet in front of him. 

She can practically feel the smile spread across his half covered face as he raises his arms up to about shoulder height, “General Soot! It’s been a long time! How’ve you been?”

Wilbur grits his teeth and just about growls at the cloaked man in front of him, shoving his sheath into the dirt and raising his sword till its level with Dream’s chest, “I’ll be a lot better once you get the hell off my land,”

He lowers his arms back to his side, the look in his eyes showing smugness and overconfidence, “And why would I do that? You clearly can’t fight me, you can barely keep yourself upright-”

Dream’s cut off by Niki suddenly rising to her feet and drawing his sword from the sheath tied to his hip, raising the heavy blade to his neck, “Leave or I’ll make sure to blind you if you don’t,”

His eyes widen for only a moment before narrowing back into slits at the shorter woman. He takes in a breath, about to speak, when he’s suddenly cut off by gagging off to his side. The trio's heads turn to see the goggled man turned away from them, but clearly vomiting his guts out into the grass. Dream groans, quickly grabbing the blade end of his sword and tearing it out Niki’s hands. She gasps lightly and is suddenly pulled back by Wilbur, his arm not outstretched defensively towards Dream now wrapped around her shoulders protectively. The partially masked man completely ignores them, sheathing his sword and swiftly walking towards the brunette curled up on the ground. Dream slides his arms underneath his knees and around his waist, lifting him up into his arms. He doesn’t even acknowledge the duo behind him as he begins walking off of L’Manbergian land and back to his own territory.

“Sapnap!” the third intruder stops his assault on the younger boys to turn towards the taller man, “Time to go. You had your fun,”

Sapnap smirks, shoving Tommy back into the mud before jogging to catch up with his two friends. Once the trio had walked far enough away, Wilbur let out a long sigh before nearly collapsing to the ground. Niki quickly presses her hand against his chest in an attempt to stabilize him as he shuffles his feet around.

“No. You are not passing out again. I will kill you if you do,”

Wilbur chuckles as he sheaths his sword, his left arm still hooked around Nikis shoulders to keep him upright, “Wasn’t planning on it. Thank you,”

She smiles sweetly up at him, bringing him into a gentle hug, his longer arms wrapping her in a strong hug, “Of course,” she pulls away to run her fingers along the dark scruff lining his jaw, “I wasn’t going to sit off to the side and let you possibly get killed. You finally got out of bed since I’ve been here after all!”

Wilbur lets out a roaring laugh as he brings the smaller woman back into his embrace, burying his fingers into her blonde hair that has partially turned brown from the fight. He stiffens and pulls away slightly at the sound of three familiar voices and splashing footsteps against the mud. 

“Father!”

“Wilbur!”

“Wil!”

They all shout over each other as they tackle the two into a hug that sends all of them to the dirty ground below, practically shove their faces into either Wilbur’s chest or neck. The general lets out a loud chuckle as he wraps his arms around the younger boys, squeezing them along with Niki in his slightly weak grasp. The woman laughs as well, burying her own face into the taller man's neck, feeling his scruff scrape against her bruised cheek. They all continue to laugh until Fundy lifts his head from Wilbur’s chest and stares at him, joyous tears falling from his eyes as he squishes his nose against his fathers, the older man’s smile only growing at the affectionate gesture.

“You’re awake!”

“I am!”

Tubbo gasps, his head suddenly rising from Wilbur’s chest as the rest look upon him in confusion, “Does that mean you’re finally gonna kiss Niki!?”  
Wilbur suddenly rises, practically shoving everyone off of him as he does so, except for Tommy who has his arms securely locked around his older brother's neck, his face remaining buried in his collar bone, “What?! No! Where did this come from all of a sudden?!”

The three who were knocked off all start laughing again at the general's flustered confusion, Niki looking off to the side as she feels her face heat up. Tommy then releases his hold on Wilbur to grab his shoulders in both his hands, making him looking the younger boy dead in the eye as he said, “Because it is so painfully obvious you’re in love with her that you’re barely lucid self did nearly everything to get that message across except say the words and actual kiss her,”

Wilbur’s face flushes deeper as he shoves Tommy’s face away with his hand as the younger boy begins to cackle, “You’re all crazy. Help me up please so that we can head back,”

Fundy and Tommy rise to their feet and reach out their hands for Wilbur to take, which he does, the two boys hoisting him up onto his feet and turning him so his arms now lay over their shoulders to provide support for him to walk. The other two rise as well, following close beside the trio as they all begin to walk back into L’Manbergs walls, deciding that there’s no use in putting out the flames at this point. The trees now barely resemble their previous forms as the flames had stripped them of their leaves and branches, leaving barren corpses behind in their wake.

Niki glances solemnly at the blackening wood until Tubbo nudges her good arm gently, “We’ll replant them,” he states optimistically, a bright smile stretching across his dirtied face. 

She smiles back, ruffling his brown locks as they walk up to Wilbur’s porch and release his arms so that he can sit atop the small steps. The general lets out a brief sigh as the sun's light begins to peak over the walls. Niki sits beside him, “So-” she begins, “Are we not going to talk about what happened?”

Fundy shrugs, “I guess we’re just more focused on the fact that Father’s awake,” he nudges Wilbur in the shoulder gently, a radiant smile gracing his features.

“Besides this happens a bit often, though not since you’ve been here obviously,” Tubbo adds.

Niki makes a rather displeased face, but winces and rubs her bruised cheek with her mud covered hand.

“You alright?” Wilbur asks, attempting to stand, but quickly losing his balance and being gently set back down by Tommy.

“Yes, I am fine,” She draws her hand away and finally takes notice of her filthy state, grimacing at her nightgown and feet. Niki raises her eyes to take in the boys nearly equally dirtied clothes and limbs, “So, who should get the first bath?”

Usually, they’d all take their own baths in their respective homes, but since they’re all so filthy, it would be so much quicker to just bathe in the lake instead of fetching the water from the well and heating it five times over.

“You,” they all say simultaneously, staring at Niki with a look that says ‘who else would it be’.

“What why?”

Tommy rolls his eyes and scoffs, “Cause you went up against the big man and nearly won! With no training! And besides you make the food,”

Niki breaths out a laugh, “I wouldn’t call that almost winning, but alright,”

“Are you kidding?” Wilbur cuts in, “You stood your ground against a very skilled killer and even made him retreat. You clearly deserve the first bath,”

“Ya! And you can make us breakfast while we bathe so we don’t have to wait as long when we’re done!” Tommy adds quickly, getting a small wack to the stomach by his brother, “But honestly you and Wilbur could just bathe together since he probably can’t do it himself and you’ve already seen him naked,”

Niki feels all blood drain and flood her face simultaneously as Wilbur’s head turns towards his brothers so fast that she’s afraid he might give himself whiplash, “What-”

“Nothing!” the smaller quickly yells, shoving her right elbow into Tommy’s gut to keep him from spewing anything else. 

“I’m going to bathe now! I’ll see you all in a bit!” She swiftly turns and begins sprinting towards the part of the lake closed off by hanging cloth used as a form of privacy. Shouting for one of the boys to bring her her day clothes to change into when she was thoroughly washed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *types Sapnap*  
> Docs: Subpoena  
> Me: No *deletes it and types Sapnap again*  
> Docs: Subpoena  
> Me: NO
> 
> Probably has spelling and grammatical errors but I still hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Something Borrowed, Something Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second hand embarrassment warning: If some of you guys were embarrassed before, oh boy. That was the tame stuff, we're getting into defo flerting territory now. 
> 
> One of my beta readers is here now! yay! Lets send her some love since she has to deal with me lol.
> 
> Long chapter to make up for my absence, hope you all enjoy!

Niki sits, twisting her left arm to straighten out across her bruised chest in an attempt to wrap the rather large gash that Dream had made earlier that morning. The top of her dress hung low around her hips since bandaging her arm would be made impossible otherwise due to her sleeves, though it was also nearly as impossible doing it with only one arm. The bandage kept sliding down her arm, not being able to keep it tight enough around her thinner bicep with her single hand. She grumbles out about not having another woman around, hissing as she takes a breath in causing the pain in her chest to flare as it has been since her bath. Niki presses her hand gently against her sternum, against the ugly bruise blooming across her skin and letting out another small hiss before she draws in a surprised breath, wincing again, as she hears the front door open. 

Quickly dropping the bandage and hiking up the top of her dress to cover her exposed undergarments she yells out, “Don’t come in!”

The footsteps halt and the person seemingly stumbles back slightly at the sudden statement. A few tense moments pass until a soft voice cuts through, “Is-is there a reason I cannot come into my own kitchen?”

Niki breathes out a small laugh at Wilbur's words, “Yes. I am... rather exposed at the moment,”

A silence follows, “Are you changing in the kitchen?” 

“No! I was... attempting to bandage my arm and I cannot do that with my entire dress on, but doing it with one arm is just as difficult,”

“...Are you naked?” 

“No?”

“You don’t sound entirely sure-“

“I have my undergarments on! I am not fully exposed for the world to see!”

Wilbur lets out a loud laugh, “Fine then I’m coming in,”

Niki flushes and presses the top of her dress against her chest tighter, “What no!- Wilbur get out!”

Wilbur, completely ignoring her flustered rambling and shouting, slowly kneels down and picks up the bandages. His still wet hair dangling in front of his eyes, causing him to push them to the side of his face as he stands up fully, clearly deciding to not use the slightly damp towel hanging from his neck to fully dry his hair. He walks a bit more forward to Nikis hunched over form still sitting in the chair, letting out a small chuckle at her angry red face glaring up at him. 

He shifts the roll of bandages in his right hand, “You said that you had trouble bandaging your arm, so I’m going to wrap it for you,”

He pulls a chair up beside hers and holds his free hand out, “Do you mind if I...?” 

She shifts a bit and sits up straight in her chair, extending her left arm out for him to take. He wraps his hand gently around her bicep, right below the cut and brings her arm a little closer to him. He lets go and begins wrapping the bandages around the gash, applying enough pressure to keep the wrappings against her arm. He circle her bicep a few more times before he was satisfied with the end product, ripping the wrapped bandage from the roll and tying it in a knot to secure it. Niki lets out an involuntary deep breath, then suddenly coughs and releases her tight grip on her dress to splay her hand over the bruise causing her lungs pain. 

Wilbur gives her a deeply concerned look as her pained coughing continues for much longer than was comforting. He scoots his chair a bit closer and rubs soothing circles onto her back until her hacking turns to deep wheezes for air. The general pulls her up from her slumped position in the chair, her head tilting back in an attempt to slowly get air back into her lungs, his hand still moving against her back. 

After a few more moments, Nikis breathing seems to have evened itself out again, “You alright?”

The smaller woman nods, choking out a small, “Yes,” she breathes in deeply this time, “Just hurts to breath is all,”

She could feel the man's stare on her as she turns her head to meet his scrutinizing gaze, “‘Hurts to breathe’ isn’t exactly a good thing Niki,”

She lets out a breathy laugh as she attempts to rub the bruise gently, “I’m aware, but it is how I am feeling,”

He lets out a small hum, nodding his head behind her, and before he can stop himself, “Can I take a look at it? It should be checked just in case,”

Niki feels her entire face, ears and neck light up red as she turns to Wilbur with a shocked gaze. He looks equally as shocked and flushed at his words, stumbling out, “I-I mean you don’t have to. I’m just saying you should- get it checked. In case anything is, ya know, broken,”

She realizes as she looks down at her lap that at some point she released the top of her dress and her under garments were in clear view of the older man sitting beside her, who, when she glanced up again, had a hand over his mouth and eyes casted towards the window across from them. Niki bits her lip in thought, weighing the options set in front of her. She was kicked very hard in the chest by a man nearly twice her size, her chest was in severe pain whenever she took too deep a breath, which could mean that something was broken or it could mean that she just got a nasty bruise and everything’s fine. She lets out a shaky sigh, coming to her mental conclusion, reaching her hesitant hands up to the three buttons on her undergarments, her face heating up even more as she begins to undo them in front of the general, who turns to look at her with wide eyes. 

“You don’t have to-” his eyes are trained on her hands as they move down to the next button.

“I would rather make sure nothings broken instead of just sitting here when something could be wrong,” the final button is released and she pulls the fabric apart to reveal the deep black, blue and purple bruise in the middle of her chest.

He stares for a moment then reaches shaky hands forward to press around the edges of the pained area, his fingers hell bent on not even grazing the parts of her exposed breasts, both their faces flushed red from the rather intimate contact. His actions are gentle, only applying so much pressure so as to not hurt the younger woman, but also hard enough to feel if anything has been shifted or is out of place. The general clearly wants to be thorough, but also clearly wants the situation to be over as soon as possible, his face impossibly red as he forces his eyes to remain on the bruise and to not wander over anymore exposed skin of the pale woman in front of him. Once he finishes his inspection, he quickly withdraws his fingers from her skin. 

He lets out a small cough as he looks away for Niki to collect herself, “Nothing feels broken, so that’s good. So thankfully it’s just a nasty bruise. It’ll go away over time,”

Niki nods, standing to pull up her dress top, slipping the sleeves up her arms and over her shoulders before attempting to reach behind her to lace up the back. Her movements halt as the stretching of her arms behind her pulls the injured skin across her chest and she removes her hands from the strings to rub her chest gently, groaning softly in annoyance.

“Need help?”

She nods, turning back to Wilbur who shakily stands before she walks over and pushes him back into his seat with her hands against his shoulders. She turns around so her back is facing Wilbur in silent acceptance of his aid. Niki feels the pull of the strings close up the back of her dress, then the general securely ties the ends together, pulling on the sides of her dress to make sure the knot won’t come undone. 

The smaller woman who is eye level with the seated man turns and gives him a generous smile, “Thank you Wil- Oh my goodness your hair is sopping wet,”

She reaches up and runs her fingers through his cold and damp locks, catching several droplets in between the creases. The blonde wipes her soaked hand onto her skirt and grabs the towel still sitting around the brunette's neck and begins toweling his hair.

The general laughs lightly as his eyes fall closed to keep the falling water from getting into them, “You don’t have to do that Niki,”

“That seems to be your favorite phrase today General,” Niki adds amusedly, moving the towel down to dry his neck.

He huffs out a small laugh as she proceeds to gently run the white cloth over his ears, “It is because you keep trying to take care of me when I no longer require being doted upon. I greatly appreciate it, but you’ve done enough already. You deserve to relax,”

She raises an eyebrow at the taller man, clearly not believing his words, “Alright-” she withdraws her hands from his head, the general already missing her touch, and backing away from him, crossing her arms with a slightly concerning smirk gracing her features, “-If you no longer require my ‘doting’ then stand. Walk over to me without using anything to support you but your legs,”

He glares at her, but his lips change from a thin line to a smirk, the general slowly rising from his chair, his hand placed firmly on the table before pushing off. His steps were slow and small, his gaze fixated on the ground so as to not stumble over his long shaking legs. He took a few more hesitant steps before he got bold, raising his eyes from the wooden paneling of his kitchen to the smaller woman about to be within his reach, her arms still crossed though her smugness had dropped to a much more gentler expression. Wilbur couldn’t help but ponder on what that look in her eyes truly meant, was it fondness or something more? The general wasn’t entirely sure yet.

As he was about within arms reach of Niki, she extends one of her hands for him to take, though as he reaches forward to take her smaller hand in his much larger one, his foot catches the wood, skidding across it and causing the tall man to lose his balance and fall forward. Niki was quick to react, moving forward for the brunettes to fall against her, her own body being pushed back due to the sudden change in weight. The blonde's hands move back to catch against the side of the counter behind her as Wilbur’s head is pressed into her left shoulder and his hands grip her waist in an attempt to stabilize himself.

After a bit of shifting so they were both standing upright again and a bit closer to the counter, Niki’s hands still against the smooth surface and Wilbur’s still pressing firmly into her waist the general meets her slightly shocked gaze, “I’m so sorry. I must’ve tripped-”

He quickly stops his rushed apology when Niki brings one of her hands up to cover her mouth as a small giggle escapes into the once tense air, though she fails to stop the loud burst of laughter from escaping her, “I’m-” she interrupts herself with another giggle, “I’m sorry. That- that was just so funny. The look on your face when you tripped,”

She continues to laugh, especially after catching the taller man's confused stare, her laughs coming out in silent breaths as Niki struggles to compose herself. Her cheeks light up red as she laughs harder at the memory of the general's panicked and shocked face as he fell forward into her arms. Wilbur rolls his eyes as she throws her head back in an attempt to quell her laughter and get her breathing back to normal, her chest once again flaring up in pain. Niki coughs a bit in between laughs and leans her head back forward to face the brunette, wiping a joyful tear from her face. 

The woman freezes but her smile doesn’t fall as Wilbur brushes his fingers along her cheek underneath where Dream had cut her, “I almost completely forgot about this. Do you need me to clean it?”

Niki shakes her head at the older mans quick topic change, “No, I already cleaned it earlier and I’ll continue to keep it clean until it heals,”

She places her hand over his as her pale blue eyes stare up into his soft brown ones. He hums out a “That’s good,” his thumb still rubbing against her cheek softly. Their gazes remain fixated on the other, Niki’s eyes moving from Wilbur’s own to trace the soft features of his face until landing on his lips before quickly looking back into his eyes. She’s only slightly surprised to see the man's gaze having moved as well, though he lingered on her lips for a second more until moving back up to meet her knowing eyes. He shuffles forward a bit, his hand moving to rest on the back of her head, tucked under her bun, tilting her face up a bit more due to his height. Niki’s hands slowly trace up his torso to rest on his chest as their faces slowly inch forward. Wilbur rests his forehead against hers, his brown irises flickering back to her lips quickly before returning to her eyes. She smiles up at him, that same look returning in the pale blues from earlier, and brings her right hand up to cup his cheek, bringing him closer, silently granting him permission to continue. Their eyes fall closed as their lips brush, Niki gasps, both barely pulling away. Eyes still shut, Wilbur tilts his head and slowly moves in again, lips once again ghosting over each other. 

Both of their eyes shoot open as Wilbur’s front door is slammed open and the sound of the three boys’ laughter fills the once silent room. Said man scrambles away from Niki and seats himself in his chair, constantly stirring as if he wasn’t sitting right while the blonde quickly turns towards the stove and begins making breakfast for the five of them, both of their faces flushed so red that it looks as if both of them had come down with a fever. 

Wilbur taps his fingers against the table as the trio file into the kitchen to take their respective seats at the table, Tubbo having brought an extra seat for Niki since she’s been sitting in Wilbur’s since he’s passed out. 

Tubbo sets it down beside Fundy and immediately takes notice of Wilbur’s change in skin tone, “Are you alright Wilbur?” he moves over to place a gentle hand against his forehead, “You aren’t coming down with a fever are you?”

The general clears his throat, “No,” he mentally curses himself for the crack in his voice at the small word, “I’m fine, thank you Tubbo,”

Tommy snickers, “I bet you’re just all flustered from staring at Niki’s-”

“I’m not staring at Niki’s anything Tommy!”

The three fall tensely silent at Wilbur’s sudden outburst, his face becoming even redder if possible. Niki continues to collect the pancake mix and syrup since she promised Tubbo that she would make it for them one morning and that’s all she was going to focus on at the moment, not the fact that she almost kissed the general who she was supposed to be taking care of. Fundy’s gaze moves between his embarrassed father and a strangely silent Niki before asking.

“Is there something going on-”

“Nope,”

“No,”

“Absolutely nothing,”

“Why would you think that?” Niki huffs out a small laugh as she turns slightly to the four men behind her before returning to facing the stove. 

“Maybe because you’re both tense as hell and are redder than mushrooms,” Tommy states bluntly after seating himself beside Tubbo and to his older brothers left.

Tubbo suddenly gasps, slamming his hands on the table and leaning forward, a bright smile on his face, “Did you two kiss?!”

“No! We did not kiss, stop bringing that up Tubbo!” Wilbur shouts, bringing his hands up to rub over his face.

“No they didn’t kiss. They’d be all over each other if they did,” Tommy says, leaning back in his chair as Fundy and Tubbo nod in agreement.

“Tommy!” Niki and Wilbur shout, the smaller turning away from the stove to stare at the younger boy in embarrassment. 

The blonde boy holds his hands up in defense, “I’m just saying,”

The five sit, or stand in Niki’s case, in silence apart from Fundy and Tommy sword fighting with their butter knives across the table, Tubbo acting as scorekeeper. Several minutes pass before Niki is placing a steaming stack of pancakes in the middle of the table for the boys to take, the trio immediately beginning to fill their plates as Wilbur hesitantly waits for the brawl for ‘who gets what pancake’ to be over so that he can grab his own. He jumps slightly at the gentle hand laying against his shoulder, turning his gaze to Niki who is standing beside him.

“Don’t take too much alright? This will be your first real meal in a while and I would like it to stay in your stomach,” She smiles, the general returning the affectionate gaze, nodding to her instruction.

“I will don’t worry,” her smile only grows, her hand squeezing his shoulder slightly as she seats herself beside Fundy, beginning to take her own food from the stack, Wilbur following suit. 

After a few silent minutes of eating Tubbo speaks up, “I was thinking-” he speaks around a mouthful of pancakes before swallow, “-that we should start training Niki,”

They all nodding or voice their agreements at Tubbo’s words, “I mean she already took on the green boy pretty well without training so it only makes sense,”

Wilbur hums around his own food, “Agreed,” he glances at Niki who smiles sheepishly down at her pancakes, “I think you’d be an incredible fighter,”

“Well that sounds like an amazing idea gentlemen but I can’t exactly fight in a war wearing a dress, earlier today proved that they are rather impractical on the battlefield,”

They hum in agreement, stopping their eating to ponder on how to get around the issue. Niki was rather smaller than most of them and none of the boys had anything else to really offer her that they weren’t currently wearing. Fundy snaps his fingers, turning slightly in his chair to face the woman seated beside him.

“I got it! You can have Eret’s old uniform!”

Niki raises an eyebrow at the new name, but due to the cheerful agreements of the other three at the table she assumes that he isn’t a fallen soldier, “Who’s Eret?”

“A bastard traitor is who he is,” Wilbur pronounces, angrily chewing on another piece of pancake. 

“Oh,” 

The room falls a bit silent until Tommy stands, practically sprinting out of the house, Niki looking startled at Tubbo, who only shrugs. She shakes her head and begins piling the dishes up in the middle of the table, about to lift them when Fundy steps in and brings them over to the sink. She smiles appreciatively at the fox boy, who’s tail swishes around excitedly as he smiles back, taking a soaked rag in hand and scrubbing off the remains of breakfast. Niki helps Wilbur to his feet with her arms tucked underneath his right shoulder, holding onto his arm as she guides him to the lounge, seating him in one of the few chairs in the room. As Niki begins making her way back into the kitchen the blonde boy slams open the door, proudly holding up a slightly tattered and much larger uniform. 

“Ta-da!” the taller boy exclaims as he holds out the clothing to the other blonde, who takes it, walking into the lounge to lay it across her original sleeping place. 

She takes the pants in hand, holding them beside her hips, the ends folding into piles at her ankles, “How tall was this man?”

“A little shorter than Wilbur I think,” Tubbo says, peering around the corner, their now clean plates stacked in his hands. 

The older woman groans, “Why are all of you so tall? Even that Dream was nearly as tall as you Wil!”

They all chuckle at the blondes bewildered expression before returning to their previous tasks, Fundy washing and drying the plates and utensils while handing them to Tubbo to place back into the cabinets, Tommy leaving Niki to go and speed it along so that they can finally start their day. The woman smiles proudly at the boys immediately taking charge in cleaning up, turning and making her way back to the uniform.

“You certainly have had an affect on them,” Wilbur comments as she lifts the coat and threads her arms through the sleeves. 

“Yes, I assume they weren’t doing any chores that didn’t involve a game being made out of it?”

The general chuckles softly, “Mostly. They helped when they felt like,”

“So never for Tommy then,”

“Hey!” said boy peeks his head around the corner offendedly, the other four bursting into laughter at his pouting. 

Tubbo drags Tommy back into the kitchen as the laughter dies down once again, Niki making mental notes on what to change, dragging her thin fingers along the hem of the jacket, muttering to herself about seams and sizes. The boys finish cleaning not long after the shorter woman finishes making mental notes, asking if they could go to the nearest village to buy some cloth and sewing materials. They agree and excitedly sprint out of the house to grab their bags and head out, happy to finally be doing something that wasn’t eating or fighting for their lives. 

Niki smiles to herself as she continues looking over the uniform, adjusting and moving parts around to alter when her supplies arrive. Wilbur couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman standing mere feet to his left. He smiles affectionately as her head tilts enough for her focused expression to come into his view, releasing a small sigh as a strand of her golden hair falls from her bun and into her face, obscuring part of her from his view. The man having the sudden urge to stand and tuck the offending lock of hair behind her ear to keep it from covering her beauty any longer. He wishes to brush his knuckles over her cheek as she smiles up at him, that same look in her eyes from earlier, as he cups her face in his large hands and leans forward-. 

He jumps slightly as Niki sets down her pen, standing proudly over a piece of parchment, the sudden noise causing the general to be pulled from his embarrassing day dream. She walks over to the still seated man and doesn’t hesitate to brush his now dry curls to the side and give him the smile that made his stomach do flips. She holds out her hands for him to take, which he quickly does, helping him rise to his feet and begin guiding him towards his room.

He pulls slightly on their entwined hands, “No, I don’t want to go back there. I’ve been there for too long as it is,”

She stops in the middle of the hallway, silently thinking of what to do as she stares up at Wilbur, “Alright-,” she lets out a small hum, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, and action in which the general attempts to ignore, “How about we go for a small walk?”

Brown meets blue as he smiles softly down at her, “Sounds wonderful,”

They end up lapping L’Manberg grounds several times until sunset, arms locked together as Niki makes sure the general doesn’t stumble over the uneven terrain or his own two feet. They talk nearly the entire time about their lives before their meeting, though when the topic of Niki’s family arose, she quickly dodged the question and moved on. Despite this making the general suspicious, he didn't press any further on the subject, noting how uncomfortable she looked afterwards. 

As the sun was just touching the top of the wall, Wilbur slowed their walking, “Niki-”

“Yes?” she raises her head from leaning on his bicep to looking up at his slightly concerned face. 

The words are suddenly caught in his throat. He wants to ask about what happened earlier. Wants to ask what that meant and if she really had feelings for him. A million words ran around in his head though all that managed to escape his mouth was, “Never mind, I lost the thought,”

She raises an eyebrow at his sudden change in demeanor, but doesn’t question it. They continue walking a bit more until Wilbur complains about being tired and they make their way back to his house, where Wilbur was quickly seated at his usual spot at the head of the table, Niki moving back to the stove to begin making dinner. Not long after the boys returned with rolls of fabric and a box of sewing materials and were promptly told to place them in the lounge and to be careful, though the last statement fell on deaf ears as they heard something clatter to the ground in the next room. Quick apologies were said and they sat down to eat. The meal was spent talking about the day’s events and what Niki was going to do to fix the uniform.

As Niki finishes placing the dishes away, Fundy shuffling out a yawning Tubbo, Tommy pulls his older brother aside and whispers to him, “Me, Fundy and Tubbo are all eating in Fundy’s house tomorrow,” 

Wilbur goes to ask why, but Tommy is already walking out the door and yelling his goodnight to Niki before shutting the door. The older man stands slightly baffled before he feels smaller arms encircle his own, the owner smiling up at him as she tugs him towards his bedroom.

“Are you ready to lay down now?”

Wilbur lets out a relieved sigh, “Yes,”

Niki helps the general remove his clothing with only slightly lingering touches and gazes to his bare chest, ushering him to bed before tucking the blushing man under the covers and turning to leave.

“Wait-”

Niki turns slightly stunned to Wilbur who is now sitting up on his elbows, looking off to the side, “Will you-.. Can you stay with me?” His eyes meet hers, “Please?”

She feels her cheeks heat up, but a smile forms regardless, “Of course,”

Niki grabs her now clean nightgown and quickly changes in the washroom before walking around to the other side of Wilbur’s bed, laying under the covers beside him. They lay stiffly in silence for a few moments before Niki turns on her side to face Wilbur.

She nervously laughs, “This is going to sound silly, but do you mind if we lay like we did before?”

Wilbur raises a questioning eyebrow at the blonde, “Before?”

She laughs again, “Well, while you were unconscious I would lay beside you to quell your nightmares and to help you sleep. It worked very well for both of us in fact,”

Wilbur blushes and looks away as he nods, silently granting permission. She smiles and shuffles over to press her front against Wilbur’s side, taking his left arm and moving it over her shoulder, her hands splaying on his chest and her head against his collar bone. She waits for the general to tell her to get off or to leave, fearing she may have overstepped, but instead he moves his free hand up and lays it over her own on his chest.

Her smile grows as well as the heat along her cheeks as she mumbles out, “Goodnight Wil,”

“Goodnight Niki,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord this was long, nearly 11 pages on docs. 
> 
> Anyways sorry for the absence.
> 
> I'm back now and will try and get back on my usual update schedule.


	8. Combat & Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second hand embarrassment warning!
> 
> Ha ha ha flustered Wilbur go brrrrr
> 
> Also, Burned Banana, you asked therefore you shall receive.
> 
> Cussing Warning? Idk it's Tommy should kinda be expected.

To say that Wilbur didn’t sleep well was the understatement of the century. 

Niki spent a quarter of the night rubbing soothing circles into the general's skin, in an attempt to lull the man back into slumber despite him being under for nearly three weeks. Her efforts proved unhelpful when she fell into sleep's gentle arms first. The smaller woman’s even breaths fanning his chest as he drowsily slides his fingers through her loose locks. He felt tired, but not tired enough to allow his eyes to slip closed for quite some time. Eventually though his eyes fell and what felt like a moment later, which was actually five hours later nearing dawn, the young brunette awoke to a weight on his chest and head tucked tightly into the slope of his shoulder and neck. Wilbur stiffens as Niki shifts atop him, her legs laying over his, her chest pressing firmly into his and her left arm thrown over his side while the other is tucked against his left. He feels the heat bloom across his cheeks as her bare legs not covered by her nightwear press against his as she flexes her toes subconsciously.

The lanky man swallows and thinks for a moment on what to do. He knows that he won’t be able to fall asleep with her laying atop him like this, so he pushes his right arm against the mattress and rolls them both onto their sides, with only a slight bit of resistance from his unused arms. Niki scrunches her face, her eyebrows creasing, letting out a small groan of discomfort as she’s moved, but quickly settles back in. Her head nuzzles even more into the general's neck, her arms sliding up to rest against his chest, the slightly rough pads of her fingers gliding across the few scars littering the skin there. Wilbur’s hands trace up her sides before stopping to fiddle with a loose string from her nightgown on her lower back. Wilbur rests his cheek against the top of her head, his unshaven scruff catching and displacing the golden locks upon contact. 

Come morning Niki was already dressed and prepared for the day while Wilbur only had the mental stability to crack his eyes open, glaring at the offending sun lighting up the room and ironically stealing his warmth. 

“Morning Sunshine,” he feels Niki’s hand card gently through his sleep tousled hair and smiles warmly, “How did you sleep last night?”

Wilbur groans, rolling onto his back, stretching his arms above his head as he does so, releasing a pleased sigh as his skinny arms rest against his pillow, “Well, I slept for three weeks already so I wasn’t exactly tired,”

The blonde giggles softly, causing the drowsy generals smile to curl upwards more, “I’m sorry, you’ll be back on your normal sleep schedule soon,”

She points an accusing finger at him, her expression suddenly turning stern, “And not the one where you awake every hour until dawn and walk around for the majority of the night,”

Wilbur laughs lightly, gripping her pointer finger loosely in his much larger hand, “Understood m’lady,”

Her smile returns as she pulls away from him slightly to hold both her hands out to him invitingly, “Come now, let me help you up so that we may start our day,”

The next week of mornings went by like this, curling against each other under the darkness of the stars and practically clinging to one another as the sun's light shined on them. Though one particular morning nearly sent the poor general back into his comatic state via heat stroke of his body's own design. 

Wilbur is practically vibrating in his seat, a dopey smile pushing his cheeks up and wrinkling his brown eyes as he takes another sip from the cup, ecstatic that he can finally enjoy a good cup of tea after so long, “It’s so warm!” another sip, a pleased hum spilling from his lips, “And so good!”

Niki laughs behind him, having only set the steaming cup down mere moments ago, “Well I’m very glad you’re enjoying it so much,”

He smiles up at her as she runs her hand lightly over his brown curls, releasing another sigh, only not from the tea this time, “Yes, thank you so much Niki,” his head tilts back and their eyes meet, a cheeky look in the man’s irises, “You are too good to me,”

Her smile grows sheepish as her cheeks flush a light pink, her pale blues moving from his browns to the table cloth, the general taking pride in the immediate reaction, smiling smugly. Niki raises an eyebrow at the shift and smirks, leaning down and placing a long kiss upon the brunette's forehead. Wilbur’s eyes widen as his face heats up like a kettle of water over a hot stove, his expression immediately melting away as his jaw goes slightly slack. The blonde smiles, now holding the general's previous smugness, squeezes his shoulder and pushing his hanging jaw up to remain closed, gently before moving towards the archway leading to the lounge. 

Tubbo immediately scrambles to his feet, “Can I help you with the tailoring today please?”

Niki smiles fondly, “Of course!” her hand held behind her slightly for the smaller brunette to take, which he does, the two disappearing into the next room.

Wilbur doesn’t need to remove his intense gaze from the window in front of him to know that his younger brother and son were staring at him smugly from each of his sides.

“So-” Fundy begins, drawing brown eyes over to him as he leans forward on his clasped hands, “-would you like to talk about what just happened father?”

Wilbur glares at the smirk across his sons face and at his curious tail swaying obviously behind his chair, bring up his tea cup to his lips, shakily taking another sip, “No,”  
Tommy hums beside him, clearly unconvinced, “Really? Alright you don’t want to talk about that then how about we talk about you constantly staring at her with that look-”

“What look?!” Wilbur asks, embarrassed by the crack in his voice at the second word. 

Fundy’s smirk only grows at the inquiry, his slightly sharp canines showing, “The loving look that Uncle Tommy can hardly describe and that I originally didn’t believe actually existed until my sweet mother appeared,”

Wilbur’s face flushes three shades darker, “She is not-!” he shouts, cursing himself and lowering his voice, “She is not your mother Fundy!”

“You sure-?” Tommy cuts in, “- cause you two sucking face last week is usually what couples do,”

The blonde’s smug expression was immediately replaced by shock and a slight bit of fear as the brunette bared his teeth angrily, his left arm shooting out to grip his collar tightly, pulling him forward.

“How did you know about that?!”

The younger struggles to keep his cackling down as he stares into the embarrassed and anger fueled eyes of his older brother, “I didn’t. Until you just told me,”

The fire in Wilbur’s eyes leaves him as he slowly loosens his grip on Tommy’s collar, slumping back into his chair, mumbling out, “We didn’t kiss,”

Fundy raises a quizzical eyebrow while his uncle scoffs, “Yes, cause Niki just gives forehead kisses out for free,”

Wilbur’s head rises to meet his brothers gaze, eyes stern, “We didn’t kiss,”

The teenager seems to recoil at the truth in the man’s gaze, “What?! Then why were you two so awkward when we walked in? And why did she kiss you just now?!”

“Because we were about to, but someone interrupted us,” Wilbur states harshly through his teeth to remain quiet, “And I don’t know why she did just now,”

Tommy’s right hand comes up to connect with his forehead as Fundy’s meets the table, “Damn, alright that’s on us, but we’ll fix this-”

“No. Absolutely not,”

“Yes, listen we can set this up for you guys-”  
“Ya! We can set up a date for the two of you! Like those nights you guys eat alone together!”

The “nights alone together” his son is referring to are the evenings the three boys decide to eat outside and away from the general's home so that he and Niki can have some time together without the trio constantly butting in. These brief few or so hours have been rather pleasant in the young general's opinion, bringing an unconscious smile to his face. The two boys continue passing ideas back and forth, Wilbur interjecting when said ideas become too outlandish for his comfort, until Tubbo walks back into the room, a rather proud smile across his soft features.

He stands rather poised as he leans his left arm towards the entrance to the kitchen, “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you Miss Nikita-” said woman walks into the room with an exaggerated sway of her hips that the two boys snicker at, but Wilbur can’t help but let his eyes remain on the movement, sipping his tea slowly, “With pants!”

She suddenly lifts her skirt up to reveal the perfectly tailored and form fitting blue uniform pants that they all wear, a bright smile adorning her face. Fundy claps delightedly at the finished product, but Tommy can’t help but choke on his own spit as his older brother's face heats up instantly and his tea shoots from his mouth back into the cup as he coughs. He slams his fist against his chest as he continues to cough, his mind tuning out all outside noise as he struggles to regain his breathing and quell the heat in his body rushing to places it shouldn’t. The general hardly flinches as a small hand gently rubs across his back as tears form in his eyes from the constant heaving of his lungs. He eventually calms down and his head is suddenly maneuvered up to meet Niki’s, her hands resting on each cheek as her thumbs wipe away the wetness around the underside of his eyes, her face full of deep concern as she looks the general over for anymore discomfort.

“Are you alright?” she asks after a moment.

The brunette swallows thickly and clears his throat, “Yes, the tea just went down the wrong pipe is all,”

The blonde lets out a relieved sigh as her smile returns, though much smaller now, one of her hands moving from his cheek to comb gently through his brown locks, “That’s good,”

Tommy claps a hand on Wilbur’s shoulder, “You sure you’re alright bro? Sounded like you were about to fucking die again,”

Said man huffs out a laugh, a small smile gracing his features, “Yes, I’m sure-” he lifts his head to meet Niki’s gaze once more, placing a hand over hers still cradling his face, nuzzling into the touch, “-just caught me off guard is all,”

The blonde smiles fondly at the man looking up at her with something in his eyes that she cannot describe. She still leans forward, placing a small kiss upon his head once more, the generals face not lighting aglow as it did before, though still holding some color as she pulls away. Niki moves out of his space completely, holding her hand out to Tubbo for him to take so that they may continue their work. As the smaller brunette's hand laces with hers Wilbur realizes that he’s never been more jealous of a sixteen-year-old until now. 

Another week passes before the uniform is fully finished, the woman not allowing any of the boys to see the rest of it until this moment, leisurely getting dressed as the others await patiently, and not so patiently, outside. Wilbur is sitting against the steps of Fundy’s home, his being directly in front of the sparring area, said fox boy leaning against the post beside him, while Tommy and Tubbo discuss what they are going to be teaching, occasionally swinging their wooden swords around as they spoke.

The general notices Fundy’s ear twitch and swivel to the side and his head follows soon after. Suddenly his eyes light up and his tail swishes excitedly, slapping the post behind him rather loudly. Wilbur raises an eyebrow, before his gaze shifts to what his son was so eagerly staring at. His jaw drops open as his face heats up at the sight before him. Niki skips over to the four boys, a bright smile adorning her pale face as the afternoon sun causes her skin to glow. The brunette's eyes never leave her face as she steps within ear shot.

“So?” she does a full spin, causing her to be moved a bit closer, “What do you think?”

Wilbur can barely hear the boys’ rush of praises as his gaze roams over her defined figure. Her hair was tied back in a much more secure bun, a few of the shorter strands not long enough to be tied back have been pushed behind her ears. The coat was buttoned in the front, showing off her curved waist and sides, the generals biting his lower lip as his eyes trail down her curves to her legs. The poor man, having only seen her bare shins maybe twice, swallows thickly as his gaze remains transfixed on her thighs, not so innocent thoughts reaching his mind before quickly being stomped out as he forces his gaze to the knee high boots she’s adorning that also seem to fit well. Wilbur assumes that they had them properly made instead of trying to adjust Eret’s much larger shoes. 

“Wil?” his gaze and head immediately snap up at hearing his name.

“Y-yes?”

“What do you think?” she does another spin, the tails of the coat lifting and twirling with her.

The general feels the words catch in his throat, “You- well… you-” he takes a deep breath in, his eyes never leaving the outline of her waist, “-wow,”

Her gentle laugh brings his attention back to her face, his smile turning dopey as he stares at her scrunched up expression, he decidedly ignores his brothers and sons snickers and smirks.

“Well I’m glad you approve,” she closes the gap between them, dragging her fingers through his hair to shift around the unruly locks.

He smiles and leans into the touch slightly, utterly disappointed when Tommy drags her away to begin their lessons.

This goes on for hours, the sun’s light now barely casting over the edge of the wall, Tommy and Tubbo switching off on who’s teaching what and who’s actually trying to knock her down. She’s surprisingly very skilled already, which only sparks a slight bit of worry in the general's mind as to why, but this they already knew from her standing against Dream. Niki manages to send Tommy stumbling into the mud after using her sword to take out his left ankle, completely throwing him off balance and to the ground below them. All of them collectively laughed, Tommy eventually joining in after his embarrassed squawking ceased, the trio falling back into their stances and resuming the lesson. 

As Tommy and Niki’s swords clash, their confident faces shielded by spruce wood, the younger boy smirks, “Now you have to admit it,”

She attempts to kick the boy's leg out from under him, though he surprisingly holds his ground, “Admit what?” she bites back.

His smirk only grows and he lets out a fake scoff, “You know what I mean Niki,”

She scowls as she moves away, her swipe at his shoulder landing successfully, her foot raising to kick him down, though he catches her shin in his hand and attempts to throw her to the side. They continue for s few more minutes until their swords connect once more, Niki’s back now facing the lake, “I don’t think we should be having this conversation right now Tommy,”

He only cackles, “What? You mean how you’re madly in love with my brother?”

Tommy watches as her face flushes red and notices her stance falter slightly. He smirks, shoving her sword to the side, scooping under her knees in one arm and resting against her back with the other. He pulls her back behind him slightly before lurching forward and releasing her from his hold, effectively throwing her into the lake as she lets out a loud yelp of surprise. Wilbur stands abruptly, stumbling back a bit at the dizziness in his brain, before limping forward to his cackling brother. 

Niki resurfaces with a gasp, stumbling a bit on the uneven footing of the shallow lake shore, “See! I told you I’d throw you in if you didn’t admit it!”

“Technically-” she begins, finally shuffling out of the frigid water, “-you said you’d throw me in if I apologized for making him happy. Which I didn’t do,”

“What the making him happy part or you apologizing for it part? Cause you definitely did the first one,” the taller boy continues to laugh as his brother shoves him lightly.

“Nice job, though I think there was a better way of knocking Niki down without throwing her into the lake Tommy,”

Said boy gestures his arms dramatically to the side in a brushing off motion, “Eh, it works all the same, at least she can get used to the feeling of wet clothes on her,”

“Ya! So she won’t be trudging as much!” Tubbo excitedly adds, a large optimistic smile stretched across his face.

Niki huffs out a laugh, “Yes, I greatly appreciate the sentiment boys,” her words were only half filled with sarcasm.

“You’re welcome!” the duo say in scarily perfect unison, causing the taller brunette to shake his head with a smile at the woman's slightly startled face.

“I’ll go grab a towel for you mother,” Fundy states casually, turning to head into his fathers house, perfectly aware of the two sets of startled eyes boring into his back.

He turns, a forced sheepish smile on his face, his ears flattening against his skull and hand purposely rubbing his neck, “Sorry, Niki, I meant Niki,”

The look across his fathers face clearly screamed, “I know you’re lying you little gremlin!” and the young fox continues to keep walking to avoid his smile being seen. 

Wilbur quickly turns towards the smaller woman beside him, ignoring his brothers’ poor attempts at hiding their smiles and snickers, “I’m so sorry. He’s such a gremlin sometimes. He’s just doing it to mess with us-”

“It’s alright,” she looks up at him, a light flush dusting her cheeks, her hands reaching up to smooth out the generals shirt, “I don’t mind,”

The taller man’s eyes widen incredibly wide, the red of his cheeks deep enough to rival that of a ripe apple, his jaw falling slack. He feels incredibly light on his feet suddenly and wants to lift the smaller woman up into his arms, spin her around, kiss her till they can’t breath. Hold her close, proclaim his love, anything, but he remains still, no words leaving his open mouth. At the strained silence of the man, Niki immediately retracts her hands, her head hung low as she backs away.

“I-I’m sorry. I mean I’m alright with it if you are. You don’t have to be if you don’t want to-” Wilbur looks over Niki’s bent head to his brothers waving violently at him, silently and aggressively telling him to fix this.

His eyes move back to the top of her head, her words becoming quieter, more shy and restrained. He doesn’t know what to do or to say to fix the sudden anxiety clearly consuming the blonde in front of him. Wilbur still stands there dumbly, looking up as he’s waved at once more.

Tommy angrily mouths to him, “Kiss her idiot!”

He feels the heat in his face build up more. He swallows and brings his shaky hand up, gripping her chin softly as he lifts her head up so that their eyes meet. He watches the light pink of her face fade into a deep red as he steps a bit closer. Wilbur leans in slightly, giving the woman a chance to back away from his touch if she wants to. He swallows again, turning her face slightly, placing his lips softly against her cheek for a long moment. The brunette feels her stiffen slightly, a small gasp making its way to his ear right beside her mouth, a noise he’d much rather consume with his own then hear it, but that was for a more private time.

Wilbur removes his lips, but doesn’t back away, instead leaning forward slightly to whisper, “I don’t mind,”

He pulls away, smiling brightly down at the blonde who returned the expression with a relieved sigh, one hand returning to his chest while the other slides up to cup his cheek, “That’s a relief. I thought I overstepped my boundaries when I said that,”

The taller laughs softly, his hands unconsciously resting against her waist, “Never,”

Niki’s smile widens, not losing its shape when she bites her bottom lip, her eyes flicker to his own grin before back up to his eyes. Wilbur breathes deeply, leaning down once more, right hand coming up to rest on the back of her head. She stands on her toes, eyes slipping shut, private time be damned.

“I got the- oh,” Fundy suddenly steps out of the house, the brunette and blondes gazes moving over to him as he holds the towel limply in his hands, “Sorry,”

“Fundy!” Tommy shouts as Niki settles back on her heels, Wilbur straightening his back, “We were this close! Why?!”

“You think I knew?! If I knew then I wouldn’t have said anything!”

The smaller woman laughs as the two continue to bicker, her gaze shifting back to the taller man when he places a light kiss upon her head, “Another time then?”

The smile never leaves her face, her thumb stroking his cheek, “Another time,”

His grin doesn’t falter as he movies away from her arms, limping slightly back towards the house to get ready for dinner. As Niki watches him disappear through the door she notices that the shouting has ceased and that all three boys were staring at her expectedly. The blonde crosses her arms, walking over to Fundy and taking the towel from him.

“Alright,” they all perk up at the single word, “Perhaps. I am in love with him,”

The trio cheer triumphantly, Fundy hugging her tightly and Tommy clamping a hand on her shoulder, “Perfect because we have the best plan of getting you two together,”


	9. Underneath the Mistletoe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so originally this chapter was supposed to be over 11 pages long and have the plot finish here, but my beta reader and I thought that the rushed dialogue of the second half that was written on my phone during 10 min breaks I got in between presents and eating could use some work. So instead of releasing a half baked mediocre chapter we've decided to split it up! 
> 
> So here's the final product. I hope you all enjoy and have had a Happy Holidays!!
> 
> Also Warning!!: This chapter contains some spicy material but nothing explicate I promise just some deffo flerting along with... so much more

Niki could get used to waking up like this. Sunlight pouring through the curtains and long arms wrapped securely around her waist, holding her close against a firm chest. She smiles, stretching her arms above her head, the winter air pricking her bare skin, causing the smaller woman to shiver slightly. The movement and noise disturbs the brunette laying behind her, a tired groan reaching her ears, his chest vibrating against her back, and his arms tightening around her waist. 

The blonde letting out an affectionate sigh, reaches one arm up to brush through her loose locks fanning over the pillow and the other lacing with the fingers toying with the fabric of her nightgown. 

“Good morning,” she breathes out, stretching and shifting in the warm grasp of the general, giggling softly when he places a gentle kiss against the nape of her neck.

“Morning,” 

Niki attempts to shuffle away from the warm body behind her to begin the day, but Wilbur, groaning in annoyance, wraps his arms around her more and pulls her back against his chest. 

The brunette smiles as her laughter fills the frigid room, “Wil, we have to get up,”

He hums, burying his face into her neck, his scruff tickling her exposed skin, causing her to let out a small giggle at the feeling, “No, too cold,”

When the blonde continues to playfully struggle in the tallers grasp, laughing all the while as she shoves at his arms and lightly kicks her legs. Wilbur, in retaliation, squeezes her tighter and tangles his longer legs with hers. Her laughter breaks away into large huffs of breath to try and accommodate the sudden pressure on her lungs. 

“Wil,” she gasps out, “Come on,”

“No, cold out there and I’m still tired. We sleep more,” He mumbles out against her neck. 

Niki sighs, halting her struggling to try and think of another way of escaping. She smirks as an idea comes to her mind, her body relaxing in the brunette’s hold. The man in question grows suspicious as she nudges his head away from her neck, his brown locks now laying against the pillow as the blonde shuffles in his arms that he pulls away a bit to allow her to move a bit better, but not far enough where he couldn’t capture her in his hold once more. She turns and slides down until her own head is nestled between his own neck and the pillow, Wilbur placing his arms back securely around her waist, perfectly content with falling back asleep till the late afternoon rest like this. 

That is until he feels her hot breath fan his skin and her head tilt up to whisper against his jaw, “Let’s make a deal,”

Wilbur blinks, hesitating before answering, “What kind of deal?”

She laughs breathily against his neck, her hand sliding along his cloth covered chest to rest against his left pec, “If I give you something will you get up?”

“What kind of something?”

Her breath fans his skin again, her lips brushing along his scruff, “How about a kiss in exchange for you letting me go?”

Wilbur feels all the blood in his body rush to his face, his arms tightening around her waist, “Does that sound fair, general?”

Niki pushes away from his neck, her fond yet smug eyes meeting his flustered longing ones. She raises her hand from his chest to brush against the hair lining his jaw before stroking his cheek with her thumb. 

The taller smiles, his cheeks still set aflame by the same fire lighting hers, his teeth showing as he chuckles affectionately, “I suppose that’s a fair trade,”

She bites her lip, her hand still resting on his chest tightens its grip on his shirt, her knuckles turning white as his own comes up to cup her cheek, or more of half her face, with his large palm and long fingers. Their eyes fall closed as they begin moving forwards, foreheads and noses brushing, though not waiting, not fully taking in the moment until their lips finally meet. Niki hardly notices her hand tighten or her cheeks flushing deeper as Wilbur’s lips press against hers softly, the hair along his top lip scratching her skin slightly. They pull away for a moment, they’re half lidded eyes meeting, before they’re grinning like fools and diving in again. 

This kiss is much deeper, more passionate as their lips move in sync with one another, breathy sounds leaving them whenever they would part for a short second. Her smaller hands are cupping Wilbur’s face fully as his arm still around her waist tightens and the palm against her cheek moves to tangle fingers into her long hair, pulling her in even more. The brunette ignores the ache in his neck or the burning of his lungs as he continues to drink in the small gasps and pleased sighs leaving Niki. 

They're lips part, large gasps leaving them as they attempt to take in as much oxygen as they can to make up for the passionate moment they just shared. The two continue to smile, they’re foreheads pressing into each other, breathes mingling as they even out. The blonde releases a pleased sigh onto the brunette's lips, her hands trailing down from his cheeks to his shoulders, rubbing the covered skin softly. Wilbur’s grin never falters as his brown eyes stare lovingly into her pale ones.

“Niki-” suddenly said woman is pressing down hard on his shoulders, pushing his body back until he’s laying flat on the bed, using her own body weight to do so. 

She swings one leg over his hip, her hands still against his shoulders, as she sits fully upright on his lap, smirking down at the flustered and shocked look the general was giving her. The blonde bites her lip, sliding her hands up from his shoulders to tangle her fingers in the brown locks of the taller man, her body following the motion. Now chest to chest, her back arching slightly so that Niki can stare down at the red man, she lays her forehead against his, staring into wide pools of brown.

“What’s wrong Wil?” she ghosts her lips over his, smirk growing as he quickly takes in a breath, his body trembling slightly, “Cat got your tongue?”

The breath he releases is shaky, bordering on a whole new sound yet to fill their ears, as his hands come up to grip her hips gently, “I’d rather you have it,”

He quickly leans up to capture her lips in his once more, immediately running his tongue over her bottom lip, eliciting a breathy moan from Niki. Wilbur groans as she opens her mouth and runs her tongue over his, one hand running up her side and gripping her waist tightly as the other cradles the back of her head, fingers getting lost in blonde locks. They engage in a rather noise filled battle for dominance as their tongues continue to slide across one another, hoping to claim the others mouth for exploration. The brunette wins this battle, albeit not fairly, when his hand on her waist disappears and reappears underneath her nightgown, gliding across the bare skin of Niki’s leg and hip, causing her to pull away from the kiss slightly to breathe out a small gasp due to the sudden cold touch. The general takes the opportunity to flip them so that he was on top, now looming over the flushed blonde, who now shared a similar look to the one Wilbur had given her earlier. He smirks, his hands finding their way to her waist as if on instinct as he pulls her into another heated hiss, this time fully claiming the walls of her mouth with his tongue, hers only running over his to cause the brunette to release more pleased sounds. 

Just as Niki hooks her ankles around Wilbur's waist, her hands moving down to slide under his nightshirt and feel the now boiling skin hidden beneath, the two hear their front door collide with the wall and a trio of familiar voices following the sudden noise. The blonde and brunette share an equally panicked look as they pull apart and look at the door before quickly back at each other.

“The boys,” is all Wilbur has to say before he rolls off of Niki and she’s leaping from the bed to grab her day clothes, quickly throwing the brunette his own.

“Be quick please,” she says, about to rush out the door before Wilbur grabs her arm gently.

“Hold on are we not gonna talk about what just happened?”

The woman gives him a perplexed look, “What do you mean?”

He blinks at her, “‘What do you mean?’ What do you mean?! We kissed!”

“Yes, we did,” she places a peck to his cheek, her hand cupping his jaw gently, “And I rather enjoyed it,”

Wilbur breathes out a laugh, “Yes so did I, immensely, but what does this make us?”

“Well what do you want it to make us?”

He pauses, looking away from her slightly, “I don’t want to rope you into anything that you don’t want Niki,”

Said woman raises an eyebrow at the man, “Wil, I don’t just kiss people at random-” her thumb slides across the top of his scruff, “-I only kiss the people I love,”

The generals cheeks are lit aglow again, a dopey smile stretching across his face as he releases a sigh of seemingly relief, “In that case, if it is alright with you,” he steps a bit closer to her, “I would like to be lovers,”

Niki smiles joyfully up at her now lover as she leans up on her toes and kisses him slowly, pulling away a moment later to speak against his lips, “Lovers it is then,”

He grins down at her before she’s playfully shoving at his chest, “Now get dressed, before the boys get suspicious,”

The taller laughs, bowing slightly as he steps away from her, “Of course m’lady, I will just be a few minutes,”

She smiles, closing the door to the washroom behind her as she quickly changes into her day dress. As Niki finishes putting up her hair, opening the door to Wilbur’s room, annoyingly ignoring the half naked man facing away from her, she walks down the hall to the kitchen with a small skip in her step and large smile adorning her face. As she’s about to pass through the archway to begin breakfast, the smaller woman is suddenly engulfed in a hug by a slightly smaller Tubbo.

“Well good morning to you too!” she states happily, wrapping her arms around the shorter in an equally tight hug. 

“Well you look extra cheery today, Niki,” Tommy says from his spot at the table.

Tubbo loosens his grips slightly to look up at the smiling woman, “I am yes! It’s been a very good day so far,”

She moves to try and leave Tubbo's hold before his arms are pulling her back into his embrace, “No!-” he pauses, as if trying to come up with something to say, “-No. I just wanna hug you longer. You give great hugs,”

She smiles and wraps her arms over his shoulders again, “Aw, thank you Tubbo!”

They stand under the archway, swaying slightly as they hold each other close, Niki’s head resting atop Tubbo's, one hand lifting to wave at Fundy, who greets her back enthusiastically. The smaller woman immediately feels her smile grow as she hears familiar footsteps making their way toward where she was standing. She turns her head to welcome her lover with her affectionate grin, his own spreading across his face as he wraps one arm around the small of her back and stands beside her, turning to greet his son and brothers when he’s suddenly cut off by the blonde boy abruptly standing from his chair.

He points at them as if he just discovered a whole new species, earning startled looks from the duo, “You’re under the mistletoe!”

Tubbo steps away as the blonde and brunette look up to see the aforementioned greenery hanging by a thin piece of twine above them, “Yep! Now you two have to kiss!” he sings the last word as he high fives Tommy.

“Those are the rules father!”

The two laugh, Wilbur shaking his head as Niki gives that smaller brunette a dramatically offended look, “So you didn’t just want to hug me? You only wanted me to stand here so I could kiss Wilbur?,” she gasps, seemingly heartbroken, “You hurt me Tubbo,”

He scrambles a bit, “Well I do really like your hugs and yes I did lie, but I’m sorry I really do like your hugs!”

The woman laughs lightly, “I’m just teasing Tubbo it’s alright,”

Tommy sighs exasperatingly, “Shut up and kiss already!”

Niki laughs again, shaking her head at the younger boy as she feels Wilbur place his fingers under chin, turning her to face him. She smiles up at him, her hands coming up to rest on his upper chest as he pulls her into a gentle kiss. They both feel their lips turn up as they press against each other, pulling away a moment later to stare lovingly at one another. 

Wilbur chuckles softly, “So was that better or worse than the few we shared ten minutes ago?”

Niki purses her lips in an attempt to not laugh as she steps away from the taller man and gets a quick look at the trio’s sudden shift in expressions, “Well it definitely wasn’t worse and I think ‘few’ is the wrong word to use when describing how many we shared,”

Wilbur’s shoulders bounce as he continues laughing, sitting down in his chair, casually avoiding the shocked stares boring into his head, “I suppose your right, how many would you say we-”

“You two already kissed?!” Tommy yells, his voice cracking in the middle.

“Yes Tommy, so glad you’re following along,” The brunette states, pouring the hot water for his tea.

“That’s not fair!” Fundy yells, his fists connecting with the table with a small thud, his tail stiff against the back of his chair.

Niki chokes on a laugh as she halts her gathering of ingredients for breakfast, “‘Unfair’? How is that unfair, Fundy?”

“We were supposed to get you two together! We had a plan!” Tubbo shouts, crossing his arms, his bottom lip protruding in a pout, the rest of his face turned up in a scowl.

The brunette hums thoughtfully, dipping his tea bag in the heated water, “Yes and instead we came together naturally,”

He shoots a glare at the back of Niki’s head as she lets out a snort at his statement, “Anyways, we’re lovers now so you three can stop bothering us about it now,”

Wilbur brings the cup to his lips, watching the scowling blonde plop back into his seat with his arms crossed as well, mumbling out, “Now I can’t tell my future niece or nephew that I got you two together. Thanks a lot guys!”

The poor general chokes on his tea for the second time that week as his face heats up, “Tommy!”

“What? You two are gonna get married at some point and make Fundy a big brother! Like Tubbo said we had a plan!”

“Exactly! I want to be a big brother father,”

“Trust me, you do not want siblings Fundy and we just got together Tommy, stop getting ahead of yourself,” 

“But I’m right! You know I am! Niki aren’t I right? You want to have babies with Wilbur, right?”

Niki drops the bowl she was holding as the attention is suddenly brought to her, “Um, well-” she keeps her gaze away from the four as she hears Wilbur try and get Tommy to ease off, but sadly he and even Tubbo persisted.

“I bet you do. You’d make a great mother,” 

“You already are to me!” Fundy states happily, the sound of his tail hitting his chair reaching the blondes ears.

“I- I I don’t think I’d be a good mother,”

Wilbur turns to her confused, “What do you mean?”

She swallows thickly, shrugging her shoulders hesitantly, “I… never had a good role model,”

The smaller woman feels her lover's large hand on her shoulder, squeezing it in a form of comfort, but she still flinches away. She moves away, the memories bubbling up causing her breath to quicken, her gaze averting to the floor so as to not meet the concerned eyes of the four.

“Niki-” Wilbur calls out, already walking forward to comfort her more, but is stopped by the glassy look she gives him.

“I just need to take a walk, I’ll be back in a bit. I’m sorry,” she mumbles the last bit as she turns the corner, throwing on the first jacket she grabs and slamming the door shut behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably rushed and has typos but I still hope you all enjoyed!
> 
> Happy Holidays once again!


	10. Visions of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!!!: The following chapter contains flashbacks, mental breakdowns, mentions of past verbal abuse and a hell of a lot of body shaming and misogynistic themes (Niki is beautiful though and who ever says otherwise is a prick)
> 
> If these themes make you uncomfortable I marked the sections that have these in them so you can skip if you want to and can read the rest of the chapter.
> 
> I still hope you enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful day!

~~~~~ Beginning of flashback/break down~~~~

Niki wraps the warm coat around her as she shuffles up the snow covered hill in front of the gate to L’Manberg, desperately trying to keep the tears from falling and the words of her mother from flooding her head. After her vision begins to blur from the water building up and the amount of fog she exhales, the quivering blonde allows her legs to give out from under her, covered knees slumping into the snow as she covers her ears and claps her eyes shut, her mothers disgusted face comes into view.

“Now why would any man want you?”

“Shut up,”

“You’re too tall. No man wants a woman who can tower over them,”

“Shut up,”

“And your shoulders are so broad. Too big and not dainty enough,”

“Please,”

“Your waist is huge as well. You think anyone would want a woman that they can’t wrap their hands around easily?”

She feels the tears catch on her lips as she sneers at the ground, her nails digging into the bit of her scalp above her ears, forcibly pulling some of her tied back locks free and into her white knuckled fist.

“And you always fight! Rolling around in the mud playing with those sticks like some toddler when you should be wearing makeup and doing the dishes for your father. No decent man would ever want a woman who thinks for herself. It’s bad luck,”

“Shut up!”

Her condescending laugh fills her ears as the snow melts into her skirt, the cold biting into the bare skin beneath, but being promptly ignored by the heavily breathing woman, “You can never escape the fact that no man will ever want you except to give him children like how you are intended to do. Like what you were made to do,”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” She pounds her fists against the sides of her skull. 

~~~~ End of flashback/breakdown scene~~~~

“Are you alright?”

Niki snaps her eyes open to be met with an exceptionally tall man with curly brown hair and a strip of black cloth over his eyes. He stares down at her with concern, the red cape blowing behind him as he takes a hesitant step forward, his arms outstretched. She flinches and shuffles away from his hand before he’s able to touch her. He stiffens, halting his movements as he notices her backing away and puts his arms up, kneeling before her as if to show he isn’t a threat to her.

She crosses her arms over her chest and brings her knees up to keep herself away from the stranger, “Please go away,” she rasps out, her voice hoarse from her recent sobbing.

“I can’t do that,” the regal man states, his arms coming down and him settling more onto his knees. 

“Why not?” she chokes out, sniffling at the end.

“I will not leave when you are clearly upset, miss,”

She inhales loudly through her nose, wiping her red blotched eyes with her sleeve. The man dragging himself forward slightly, now almost directly in front of the shaking blonde.

“Would you like to tell me why you’re upset? Talking about it usually helps,” he adds after a beat of silence.

Niki wraps her arms around her knees, tapping her calf in thought as she considers the man's offer, deciding that she really has nothing to lose by telling him her troubles.

“My mother-” she pauses, he hums for her to continue, “-she wasn’t the best. She would always talk down to me. Tell me I’m not good enough for anyone to love me. There was always something wrong with me in her eyes and my father wasn’t any better,”

The curly brunette lets out a thoughtful hum, shuffling a little more closer, “Strangely enough, I get what you’re going through-”

“Oh no, my mother left a very long time ago. I’m in a much better place now, memories just… bubble up sometimes,”

He nods, “I also get that, but a very long time ago I used to tell my little sister that no matter how much hurts. No matter who said it or who hit you, always remember that if you keep your head held high and smile on your face, help will come eventually,” he ends with a smile, though all Niki could focus on were his all too familiar words, her eyes wide and glassy for a completely different reason.

“Alistair?” she mumbles out, unsure if the man before her was once the boy who used to hold her in his once thin arms so many years ago. 

The tall man’s smile falls, his body stiff as his covered eyes turn to gaze at her, shock evident on his features as his jaw falls slightly slack. 

“Alistair?” Niki breathes once more, shuffling closer, her hand coming up to comb through his dark locks, “Is that you?”

He reaches up, gripping her hand that had fallen to his cheek, “I haven’t heard that name in a long time,”

Her other hand cups over her mouth tightly as the tears begin to fall, “Alistair. It’s me,”

The man hesitantly reaches up to cup her cheek softly, “Niki?”

She nods against his hand, his breath now coming out in small shaky sobs, “It’s really you?”

“It is,” she grasps his hand in hers, her other still on his face stroking his cheek soothingly, 

“My dear brother-” she surges forward and engulfs him in a bone crushing hug, “-how I’ve missed you so,”

He buries his face into her shoulder, his arms encircling her smaller form as he lets out a broken sob, “I’ve missed you so much,”

He runs his hands over the back of her neck and the bottom of her bun mumbling into her ear about how he’ll never leave again and how he’ll tell her of all the adventures he’s been on since they’ve been separated. She nods silently, smiling joyfully as her brother holds her tighter, herself whispering about how she got away and how many friends she’s made. Alistair pulls away from her shoulder, a covered eyebrow raised at the mention of a new lover. Niki laughs, waving him off, saying she’ll tell him later. 

Their moment is sadly cut short at the sound of stumbling footsteps and a familiarly loud voice shouting over the hill.

“Eret! Get the hell away from her right now!”

Niki’s face scrunches up in confusion at the use of the name of the barely mentioned traitor of the nation, “‘Eret’?”

“I changed my name. Hello Wilbur. Can we help you?”

He stumbles up, gripping Nikis arm gently, pulling her up and away from Alistair's arms and behind him, as if protecting her, “Yes. You can leave,”

“Wil? What’s going on?”

“You know him?” The two men manage to say at the same time. 

The blonde sighs, “Alistair my lover Wilbur. Wilbur my older brother Alistair,” she gestures to each mentioned man as she says this, the two staring each other down. 

Wilbur glares at him, his arm still protectively blocking Niki, “So your real name is Alistair?”

“Yes, though I have to say that my old name is much better than my new one,”

The taller brunette hums, then glances back at his lover before back at Eret, “You two have the same eyes huh?”

“Well we did,” Alistair shrugs, scratching the skin below the black fabric. 

“What do you mean ‘did’?” Niki tries to shuffle around Wilbur, but is still held back by his arm, a glare being sent his way due to this. 

The curly brunette lifts the fabric from his eyes, revealing two pale clouded orbs underneath with a scar running over the bridge of his nose. Niki gasps, shoving past Wil to cup her brother's face, tilting it from side to side as if to assess the damage. 

“The price to pay for a crown right Eret?” Wilbur says, his voice dripping with venom. 

“Wilbur!”

“What? I’m right aren’t I? Your majesty,”

“Wilbur enough, please,”

“He nearly killed Fundy, Tubbo, Tommy and me all for a crown Niki. He’s a traitorous bastard!”

“Do you think I’m happy about what I did Wilbur?!”

“Oh I bet you’re perfectly content with your actions Eret,”

She pulls away from her brother, stepping back and giving him a betrayed look that he feels boring into his own eyes, “Why? Why would you do that Alistair?”

Her brother opens his mouth to justify his actions, but Wilbur cuts him off before he can even begin, “Because he wanted power. That’s all he’s ever really wanted in the end,”

Eret steps forward, the composure he’s been keeping up through the whole encounter slipping slightly, “It was my life or the rebellions! They cornered me. Threatened me. Willing to kill me if I didn’t do what they said, but they still gave me a choice. Die or help them win, personally I like living to rebuild what I’ve lost instead of dying,”

“You mean dying with honor. As a good man!?” Wilbur shoots back.

“Honor can be redeemed Wilbur. Life cannot,”

Said man scoffs at this, ready to throw in another comment when Niki steps between the two, placing a respective hand in front of each of their chests, “Enough,”

Her tone leaves no room for argument, both men backing off and remaining silent as Niki places a comforting hand upon her brother's face, disappointment rolling off of her in waves that Eret can’t help but feel as he leans into her soft touch. Wilbur feels the vines of jealousy wrap around his heart as he watches the exchange, looking off to the side and scowling at the snow covered ground. 

“Now you will explain everything to me when we meet at a later date alright?” he hears her ask the other man, him giving her a confused stare.

“You aren’t coming with me?”

Niki sighs, “I cannot, but I will visit often. I made a promise to care for all of them in L’Manberg and I do fight for our nation now. I only wish you had not been forced to choose sides, then we could be together every day,”

Wilbur attempts to not let the smirk stretch across his face as her words fill the air, she was choosing him and not the traitor. There is a small sliver of guilt due to him being her blood brother, but the general's rage overpowered the feeling rather quickly. 

She hugs him tightly once more before stepping away from Eret, promising once more to visit and spend more time with him as she circles her arms around her lover's left arm. He smiles and nods, turning and walking back through the snow to wherever he was going before the sudden reunion with his sister, disappearing over the hills moments later.

Once he is out of view, Niki slaps Wilbur’s chest rather hard, causing the man to release a noise of pain, “Ow! Niki what was that fo-”

He turns to meet her angry gaze, any words he was about to say dying on his tongue as he stares wide eyed as she points accusingly at him, “I understand that what he did was entirely wrong and I will never defend him on that, but if you ever speak ill of him again while I am around I will make you sleep in the snow until it melts off the ground. Do I make myself clear?”

The general nods quickly, “Yes ma’am,”

Her shoulders immediately relax and a peaceful smile stretches across her face scarily quickly, “Good, now let’s head back shall we?”

The slightly terrifying woman loops her arms with Wilbur’s once more, pulling him slowly back to their home, the man stumbling behind her, still trying to recover from the sudden shift in his lover's mood. He eventually falls into a decent pace, now walking beside her as she leans her head onto his shoulder, her grip on his bicep unusually tight. Her peaceful features, but stiff posture brings his mind back to why he came running out in the cold in the first place.

He places a slightly hesitant hand over hers, concern etched into his features as he pears down at her, “Would you like to talk about what made you run off? Or are you still upset at me?”

She sighs, “No, I’m not upset at you. I just don’t feel like explaining it and breaking down again,”

He nods, humming in agreement, pausing and weighing his words before speaking them, “Would you mind summing it up so that I at least know what happened that made you upset?”

Niki purses her lips in thought, “I suppose so,”

She pauses, putting the taller slightly on edge before speaking similar words to the ones she had spoken earlier, “My mother… wasn’t the best. She would always tell me that there was something wrong with me every day until the day she left and-and when Tommy asked if I wanted to have children of my own… I don’t know the memories just resurfaced for some reason,”

Wilbur hums again, thinking upon his next words once more, “Do you?”

She looks up at him quizzically, “Do I what?”

He swallows, “Want to have children. With me,”

A tense pause fills the air briefly, “Well do you?”

“It’s not up to me. You’d be the one carrying our child if we were to decide on having any. In the end it’s your decision,”

The blonde smiles, gripping his bicep a little tighter, “Of course I do, but not right now,”

“Oh, of course not right now. That would be irresponsible on both of our parts,”

They both laugh lightly at this, their bodies being shaded by the arch of the gateway to L’Manberg, “Would you tell me more of your past when you feel more comfortable?”

Niki nuzzles her face into his shoulder, “Of course my love,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if I forgot to warn about anything else. If I missed anything to warn about please let me know so that I don't make that mistake again. Thank you!


	11. Bonus Christmas Chapter because my Beta Reader Really wanted it to Exist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm not dead just filled with writers block and school work. Sorry for the long wait, but here's a little sweet fluffy late Christmas chapter to mark the end of his book.
> 
> Literally it's just 4,691 words of pure fluff, domestic feels and good family dynamics.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it and have a wonderful day!

Wilbur groans as he’s suddenly roused from his sleep by his son excitedly throwing his bedroom door open, the heavy wood colliding with the wall loudly, and jumping on top of him in the next second, Fundy’s entire weight falling upon his stomach and legs.

“Father! Mother! Get up! It’s Christmas!”

The brunette releases another tired groan as he feels the brush of the fox boy's tail swishing excitedly over his blanket enveloped legs, leaning up to glance at the curtain covered window to see it barely being bright enough for the sun to not have even risen over the trees beyond the walls. He falls back against his pillow, rubbing his eyes rather hard as he feels his love sit up from her spot beside him, stretching and sighing as her arms fall back at her side. 

“Come here Fundy,” She gestures for him to hug her, which he does excitedly, wrapping his arms tightly around his mother as she falls flight against her own pillow, turning on her side so that her son is now wedged between her and Wilbur. 

The boy's tail continues to move excitedly as he nuzzles his face between Niki’s cheek and her pillow, giggling happily as he feels his father's arm pass over him and rest on his mothers waist, his back now against the taller man's chest. They remain like this for a few moments, Wilbur and Niki’s foreheads pressed against each other as their son hugs the blonde tightly, smiling happily at one another as they exchange a few pecks.

“Merry Christmas darling,” the brunette mumbles out, grinning through the still hazy fog of sleep.

Niki lets out a small giggle, sharing the same look as her beloved as she squeezes Fundy tighter in her embrace, “Merry Christmas my love,” 

The two lean in for another kiss when the smaller boy suddenly sits up with a large grin and a bright look in his eyes, staring down at his parents confused and startled expressions, “Did you get me a little brother for Christmas?!”

“And now I’m awake,” Wilbur says, sighing as he pushes back the warmth to escape his son's constant questions on the subject.

He rubs his face once more as Fundy pouts down at him, “How about this-” the sluggish brunette begins, “-You go make sure the boys are ready to open presents and Niki and I will be out in a couple minutes. Does that sound good?”

The fox boy immediately perks up, nodding quick enough that Wilbur is surprised he wasn’t dizzy, and rather violently scrambles over his father to slide down the bed and run back into the lounge to awake the other two.The general groans once more as he wraps his arms around his trampled middle, laying against his pillow as allows himself to wake up fully, not exactly pleased with his lover laughing at his pain.

“It’s a good thing you’re not pregnant then?” she hums at the end before letting out another soft chuckle as the taller man slowly pulls her against his chest.

He shushes her, “Please don’t let him hear that, he’ll start getting ideas that we did actually get him a brother for Christmas,”

Niki laughs again, kissing his freshly shaven jaw as she pats his side, “Come on, we have to get up before all of them come in and jump on us,”

Groaning seems to be the only noise Wilbur wishes to speak as the blonde rolls off of him and pads over to the door, her hand on the doorframe as she awaits her love to drag himself from the bed and to her side. She smiles and loops an arm with his as they walk down the short hallway to the three boys energetically bouncing in their seats, waiting rather impatiently for the adults to join them. Before the duo can fully sit, Tommy and Tubbo are already placing a gift that looks as if it has been stabbed at least once in Niki’s lap.

“Open this one first!” Tommy says excitedly.

“It’s from all of us! Minus Wil, he did his own thing,” Tubbo adds.

Said man shakes his head, chuckling as he pinches the bridge of his nose, but pausing when the box in the woman's lap moves. Niki, also sitting frozen and wide eyed, stares at the trios amused expressions.

“Boys what did you get her exactly?”

“You’ll know in a minute! Just open it!” Fundy says, tail swishing from side to side faster than Niki has seen in awhile, “Just know it was my idea to get this, they just helped,”

“Hey!”

“Hey! Not cool fuzzy man!”

The blonde smiles, rolling her eyes half heartedly and shakes her head, pulling loose the carefully tied knot of ribbon and cautiously slides the lid off the top of the box. Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open.

“Oh my prime!” she coos as she slides her hands under the front legs of the tiny orange kitten nestled in the box, bringing it to rest on her chest.

Niki’s face morphs into a happy pout as the tiny ball of fluff crawls up her chest to her shoulders and releases a tiny meow next to her ear. Her eyes gleam with pure joy, the boys sharing a similar expression as they high five each other in victory. Fundy bouncing around happily, his tail swishing rapidly, creating a rather loud swishing noise as he does so. The blonde cradles the tiny being in her arms slightly tighter as she gives her thanks to the trio softly.

“What are you gonna name him?” Tubbo asks, smiling brightly still.

The kitten nibbles on her earlobe as the smaller woman sits for a moment, pondering, “How about-” her eyes fall on Fundy’s beaming face and swaying tail behind him, her mind coming up with an answer as a grin falls over her features, “-Fungi,”

The fox boy’s ecstatic expression only grows at the few spoken words, his feet once again leaving the floor as he jumps in place with newfound energy and joy. Niki laughs lightly as she sets Fungi back in his box now on the floor, raising her arms up in a silent invitation for a hug, one in which the three youngest happily take, tackling her back into her chair as their arms wrap around the woman tightly. 

The slightly frigid air is filled with laughter, even from the brunette sitting off to the side, as they sit embracing each other tightly. The trio pull away after a moment when Wilbur stands, holding a flat, square box in hand.

“Well since we’re breaking tradition and giving Niki her presents first-” the taller begins, the other three scurying off the blonde as her lover holds out the gift to her, “- then I’d like to give mine,”

Niki grasps the edges of the present in her hands, settling comfortably in her chair as she rather hastily removes the ribbon and lid obstructing her view of the unknown item inside. The blondes head tilts in curiosity as she’s met with a black and gold coin shaped pendant dangling from a dark length of twine swirling around it in the box. She sets the outer wrappings of the gift upon her lap as she reaches inside, lifting the necklace from its confines and into her palm. Her face morphs into a loving smile as the golden veins of the slightly heavy black stoned pendant glisten in the morning light pouring through one of the front windows off to her right. 

“It’s beautiful-” she breathes out, “-where did you get it? What’s it made of?”

Wilbur chuckles beside her, rubbing his neck seemingly sheepishly, “I actually made it from gilded Blackstone that I collected from the nether,”

Her eyes gleam with surprise as she turns to face him, “Gilded Blackstone?” The look is immediately replaced by a thoughtful, scrunched up one as she looks away from him slightly.

“Wait a minute, this kind of ore is only found in bastions. Piglin bastions,” her once soft gaze turns to a sharp glare as her beloved shies away from it, his own moving to eye the worn wood of the floor.

“When you went to retrieve this ore-” her voice is laced with a scolding and frightful tone, “-that wouldn’t happen to be the same day you came home, after leaving randomly might I add, covered in ash, burn marks and a large gash in your arm would it?”

The accused man remains silent as his lover stares him down, before eventually leaning down and swiftly picking up several wrapped packages from said angry woman and smiling brightly at her, “Here I’ll open yours now!”

She continues to give him a displeased look as he tears through the paper wrapping to a neatly folded piece of cloth of familiar colors within. His expression remains a shocked one as he slumps back into his chair, staring as he pulls out a blanket fit for an infant adorning the colors and symbols of their nation. 

His dumbstruck eyes shift to meet her soft smile, “You-... how did you..?”

She laughs softly, “I was cleaning up your work bench when I noticed your sketch of the flag on a piece of parchment and I decided that I should test out your design,”

He breathes out an astonished sigh as he holds up the miniature flag of L’Manberg, real and light in his hands. He suddenly feels tears come to his eyes as a bright smile stretches across his fair face. The brunette quickly lifts his hand to wipe away the wetness building in his eyes before they fall.

“Sorry. I don’t know why I’m getting emotional about this. Thank you, Niki,” 

Her smile widens as she stands from her seat to peck her lovers lips lightly, “Your welcome, my love,”

He grins, rubbing their noses together before she’s lightly shoving the other gifts into his chest, “Alright now open these. You guys too,” she points towards the trio now sitting cross legged on the floor.

“What? Why?” Fundy tilts his head at his mother.

“Because it’s less tedious than all of you opening them one at a time,” she grins, situating herself back in her chair as she awaits their reactions.

The boys shrug and begin tearing into the gifts wrapped similarly to Wilbur's. As the items inside are revealed, each one of their expressions morphs into drastically different ones that have the small blonde choking back laughs.  
“Socks,” Tommy begins.

“And… underwear,” Wilbur finishes.

“Finally!” Tubbo and Fundy shout simultaneously.

“It has been so long since I’ve had a new pair of these!”

“Thank you mother! Now I won’t have to double them up when I wear my boots anymore!”

The pair of brothers give her an equally uninterested stare as she chokes out a snort, “All of you were scarily low on both. I had to do something before one of you tore the one pair of underwear you own,”

The nearly identical pouts that form across their faces forces out another laugh from the blonde as she rises and hands each of the boys more gifts from under the tree, “But don’t worry that’s not the only gifts I got for all of you,”

The trio quickly tear about the wrapping and boxes encasing their presents, eyes lighting up immediately at the object revealed to them. 

Tubbo raises a plushie from the box resembling a large bee, a wide smile stretching across his features, sky colored irises meeting muted blue as he holds the yellow and black striped stuffed animal tightly in his arms, “It’s a bee!”

Niki smiles fondly, her laughing holding the same soft tone, “Yes, it is,”

He squeezes it against his chest tighter, “I love it! I love it! I love it!” he rubs his face across the small sewn smile affectionately, “And it’s so soft!”

Her grin never falls as she reaches forward, running her hand through his already tousled soft brown locks, the smaller boy rising and hugging her quickly, “Thank you, Niki!”

“You’re welcome Tubbo!” she squeezes him in her arms before he squirms out of her hold, returning to his spot beside the other blonde who’s holding his own plushie in hand. 

He squishes its side in his hands in curiosity, staring at it as if he was sizing it up, “A cow?”

The woman nods happily, “Yes. I heard you have a fondness for a new calf that you’ve named Henry, so I thought I’d make you one that looks like him!”

Tommy turns the square animal around his hand, a fond look in his eyes as he stares at it’s pudgy face, “It does kind of look like him,” he strokes one of its sides hesitantly, as if he’s afraid it’ll attack him if he does, “It’s got the little spot between his eyes and everything,”

The smaller blonde hums, her hands coming together and her fingers lacing as she places them in her lap, “Do you like it?”

She sees the corners of the younger’s lips turn up slightly before settling back into his neutral expression, “I do, yes. Thank you, Niki,”

“You’re welcome Tommy,” she gives him a wide smile, turning towards her son as he reveals his own gift.

The black cap adorned with two golden pins is already situated on top of the fox boys head, fitting perfectly between his large ears. He feels around the edges of the hat before standing and sprinting towards the washroom where the mirror hangs. The remaining four laugh after a beat of silence.

“I believe he likes it,” Wilbur states through the soft laughter.

Fundy is suddenly sliding back into the lounge and embracing Niki tightly from around the back of her chair, nuzzling her cheek before pulling away, “Thank you! Thank you! I love it! It fits so perfectly!”

If his bright smile and bouncing heels weren’t a dead give away to his excitement then his rapidly swishing tail was. The large length of orange and white fluff curling around his thin frame as he jumps around a bit before coming around to the front of his fathers chair.

“Father! Father! Look at how good it looks! It fits perfectly! Hats don’t usually fit me, but this one does!” Fundy rambles on as he shakes Wilbur's arm in his tight grasp.

“Yes. I see it. It looks wonderful on you, Fundy,” the man states calmly, petting his son's fluff covered ears.

His smile grows at the brunette's words, showing off his slightly sharpened canines, “It does!”

“And before you sit-” Wilbur begins as he notices his son beginning to slide back into his spot beside his uncle, “-I want to give you my gift,”

Fundy’s ears perk up once more as his father rises, walking out of the lounge towards his bedroom. They all wait a few moments before they hear the general's voice from just around the corner, “Ok. Close your eyes for a second please,”

The smaller boy obliges, closing and covering his eyes with his hands, tail swishing expectedly as he awaits his fathers next words. Wilbur walks around the corner, gripping the gift for his son as he kneels in front of him.

“Alright. You can open them now,” the taller man speaks softly, watching as Fundy uncovers his eyes, opening them slowly and then widening as they land on what was in his fathers hands.

“Merry Christmas my little champion,” Wilbur smiles as he holds the brand new guitar out for the fox boy to take.

The orange and white haired boy stares at the instrument in disbelief, tears welling up in his brown eyes as he takes the gift in his clawed hands, brushing his fingers over the smooth wood. Everything is silent for a moment as Fundy looks over the guitar, his guitar, as the disbelief and joy filled tears fall from his eyes, dripping from his chin as he smiles, looking back up at his fathers equally bright expression. He sets the instrument down beside him with a care Niki has yet to see until now and jumps into the brunette's waiting arms. He grips him tightly, the fluff covered tail swishing happily, though much slower than before, behind him. 

“Thank you, Father, I love it so much,” Fundy mumbles into Wilbur's shoulder as the general pets the back of his head with one hand, the other holding the smaller boy close.

“I’m glad. I love you so much Fundy,” the taller man squeezes his son in his embrace a little tighter.

Fundy’s hands tighten around the parts of the brunette’s shirt in his grasp, “I love you too Father,”

Once they pull away, Wilbur kisses his son's head, then resting their foreheads together before separating fully and taking their original seats. The boys go to give each other their own gifts to each other before the fox boy stops them, pulling them into a small huddle briefly, not entirely whispering as they discuss something. They then split off, Tubbo and Tommy scooting off to the side as Fundy stands up straight, pulling a worn, folded piece of paper from his pocket. 

He clears his throat, glancing at the two to his left, both giving him thumbs up in encouragement. 

The boy lets out a breath, Tubbo beginning to make what seems like a musical beat with a few strange sounds coming from his mouth, causing Niki to raise an eyebrow at the smaller brunette, “My name is Fundy, I am poet. I wrote this rhyme just to show it. And I, just turned nine. You can write rhymes, but you can’t write mine,”

“What?!” Wilbur gasps dramatically as Fundy begins getting into his performance.

“I practice French, play piano with my mother-” he glances at Niki with a small grin as his father hums along, “-I have a sister, but I want a little brother,”

“No. Stop,” Niki gives a bewildered look in her lover's direction, the general mouthing that he’ll tell her later.  
“My daddys’ trying to start L’Manberg. Un. Deux. Trois-” he pauses for a moment, “-Tommy’s a jerk!”

“Oh!” Wilbur and Fundy yell at the same time, the general standing and wrapping his arms around the boy and lifting him into a hug.

“That was incredible, Fundy! I absolutely love it! Thank you,”

“Anyone want to fill me in on a few of those lines?” Niki asks as the taller man spins his giggling son around in his arms.

“Oh, ya,” He sets Fundy down, “So, Fundy began writing this poem when he was nine, as he said, and has added a little bit more to it over the years and sang it to me as my gift. Except this year he finally finished it!”

The blonde hums, “That is very nice, but what was that bit about him having a sister?”

Wilbur laughs sheepishly, though Fundy steps in before he can say anything, “Apples!”

The woman lets out a, “What?” as she laughs confusedly at the younger boy.

“Apples is my sister!” Fundy repeats.

The brunette then steps in, “Apples is an arctic fox Fundy had found some time back and had promptly dubbed her as his little sister,”

Niki sighs in relief, “That’s nice to hear. Was afraid you had another child and didn’t tell me,”

Laughter breaks out into the slightly frigid air as Wilbur shakes his head, walking forward and placing a gentle kiss upon his beloved’s forehead, pulling away and being pulled into a quick kiss by said woman. They smile at each other with pure adoration in their eyes, before chuckling once more at Tommy gagging loudly. The taller brunette turns, glaring at his younger brother who only sticks his tongue out and scrunches his face at the man.

The general goes to say something, most likely a cheap insult before Niki is gripping his forearm gently, halting his onslaught of words, “Why don’t you boys finish opening your presents and give Wilbur the last of his,”

Said trio quickly tear open the remaining presents for each of them at once, no longer going at the slow pace that was set earlier. Tommy and Tubbo gasp simultaneously, holding up separately colored bandanas with large grins stretched across their faces. The blonde clutches a green strip of fabric in hand while the smaller boy continuously wraps the red cloth around his hand over and over again. 

“Did you two get the same thing?” Fundy asks.

“Yes, but I don’t care!” Tubbo yells, helping tie the bandana securely around his best friend's neck, Tommy doing the same around the brunette's right bicep.

The duo embrace tightly, rocking back and forth in each other's nearly bruising hold as they smile like a bunch of idiots. Fundy, rolling his eyes, though grinning all the same, looks down at his own gift from the brunette currently being smothered by the energetic blonde.

He gasps himself, eyes lighting up as he pulls out several sacks of Redstone, buttons and repeaters, “This is awesome! I can finally work on that trap for Dream!”

Tubbo squirms out of the pouting and entirely not clingy blonde as his bright expression is now pointed towards the younger boy, “Ya! It will be great!”

Fundy sets the bags down before embracing the brunette in his own holding, “Thanks Uncle Tubbo!”

Niki hums thoughtfully, “I’ve never heard you call Tubbo ‘uncle’ before Fundy. What’s that about?”

The two pull away, “He’s my uncle, just not related to these two,” he points at his father and uncle as he says so.

She hums once more, “So you’re adopted Tubbo?”

Said boy hums and nods in acknowledgment, “Ya. Phil, that’s these guys dad, found me in a box on the side of the road near their house!”

“Really?”

“Ya. I don’t really remember anything before Phil found me,” he pauses, his smile disappearing momentarily, “Including my name. I just remember it being something similar to Tubbo, so that’s what everyone calls me now,”

The blonde nods, reaching forward to pat his head comfortingly, “Well I’m glad you’re here with us now,”

The usually upbeat expression returns to his face as he scrambles back over to finish his own presents. 

Tubbo ended up receiving a similar amount of Redstone and tripwire hooks, the brunette and fox boy drawing out new plans for a trap on the remains of the wrapping paper quickly before returning to conversing with the other three in the room. Tommy excitedly pulls out a small pocket knife from the box, waving it around with a crazed grin before having it taken away by his older brother. The boy slouches back into his spot, arms crossed and bottom lip out in a pout as Wilbur returns the weapon to its box and sets it on the table beside him. Tommy grumbles to himself momentarily, though stops once his nephew reveals the finely crafted bow from his uncle, standing and gesturing towards it to boast of its quality, since he was the one who made it. The trio then engage in plans for traps and ambushing their previous attackers, getting lost in their own world as they crouch into a new huddle. 

Wilbur, shaking his head, rises and pulls the smiling blonde into a loose hug, kissing the top of her head as she rests her cheek over his heart, mumbling into her freely hanging locks, “Merry Christmas, Niki,”

She squeezes her arms around him tighter, smiling wider, “Merry Christmas, Wil,”

They separate for a moment only to begin leaning towards one another once more for their lips to connect, only for Tubbo’s sudden loud words halts their movement, “Hold on! We didn’t give Wilbur his presents yet Tommy!”

Said blonde boy gasps, “You’re right Tubbo! Wilbur-” he pushes his brother back into his chair, Niki chuckling at her lover's startled expression, “-Open these! But open the smaller one first,”

Tubbo shoves two presents into the man's arms, who, with a raised brow, opens the smaller one as requested. He slides off the slide and pulls out a small handkerchief with his initials embroidered into one of the corners of the white cloth. The smaller brunette goes on for a bit about how Niki had taught him how to embroider, stating how he didn’t make the cloth itself, but did sew on the initials. 

His rambling is cut short by Tommy shoving him slightly, “Ya! Ya! It’s great, now open mine!”

Wilbur shakes his head, sighing for the millionth time that day as he tears open the wrapping before quickly covering the gift once his brain fully processes what's inside. The younger blonde suddenly bursts out laughing, doubling over and falling to his knees as he clutches his sides, cackling into the previously silent room as the older man glares at him.

“What? What is it?” Niki asks as she attempts to lean over Wilbur’s shoulder to see what lies in his hands.

He moves it away from her reaching hand, only for it to land in Fundy’s awaiting grasp, “Wait! Fundy no-”

“What does “How to Sex” mean?” he asks after brushing away the remaining wrapping covering the cover of the leather bound book.

Tubbo is quick to join his best friend on floor in laughter as the fox boy stares confusedly at the two. Fundy’s gaze then turns to his mother and father who are pointedly avoiding each other's eyes, their faces flushed red and full of embarrassment. 

Tommy is then pulling his nephew into a side hug, taking the book from his hand to hold in his own, “It’s to help with getting you a little brother Fundy!”

The boy gasps, wrenching the thick piece of literature from his uncle's hand and shoving it back into his fathers arms, “Read it please Father! I want a brother!”

The general groans loudly into his hands covering his face, Niki now fully turned away from the others in an attempt to hide her blushing face.

“Ya! So why don’t you two get a-”

“Finish that sentence and I take away all of your presents,” Wilbur cuts his brother off with a threatening finger and glare pointed his way.

The blonde boy immediately scoops said gifts into arms, shoving them into his coat and buttoning it up quickly, tucking his arms under the edges of his jacket where some of the items were slipping out of, “Ha! There is no possible way for you to get them now! Which means I can say it!”

“Don’t you fuc-”

“Get a room you two!” Tommy scrambles to his feet and begins running throughout the house, his older brother hot on his heel as they both scream at one another.

“Get back here you gremlin!”

“No!” the blonde laughs before screaming a moment later, “Tubbo help me!”

The brunette jumps to his feet and scurries down the hall to the sound of thumping and yelling, though quickly reappearing with Tommy, both slung over Wilbur’s shoulders, screaming squirming in the man's hold. 

Fundy then jumps forward, wrapping his arms around his fathers neck, “Don’t worry I’ll save you guys!”

Wilbur groans at the extra weight, falling forward slightly causing Niki to hold her hands out to brace the man's fall if need be, though he catches himself and continues stumbling towards his lover, “No! You will never stop me!”

They all laugh as the taller man allows his arm to slide from Tubbo and scoop up Niki in his hold, pulling her against Fundy who is still dangling against the general's chest. The added weight causes Wilbur to lose his footing and slide to the floor, attempting to not have anyone get hurt as he slumps to the floor. Thankfully, they all continue to laugh in the pile of bodies they’ve made along the hardwood, snuggling closer to one another as their giggles die down. They lay there, tightly held together by the general's long arms as they relish the happy moment together.

If only they knew how long it would be until they could be like this again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This book may be finished but the story is far from over

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Suggestions are welcome! Just no hate please.


End file.
